


It's Complicated

by BunnyBean



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Comedy of Errors, Drama, F/M, Falling In Love, Happy Ending, Humor, Misunderstandings, Romance, Romantic Comedy, World Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-14
Updated: 2013-11-27
Packaged: 2017-11-18 15:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 67,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/562675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyBean/pseuds/BunnyBean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right. RyoSaku.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTE:
> 
> For this fanfic, I altered the story timeline slightly and made the U-17 camp happen during the summer break of Ryoma and Sakuno's 2nd year of middle school instead of the winter/spring before 2nd year started.

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter One

* * *

Echizen Ryoma is a bully.

How do I know you ask? Let me give you some cold, hard, facts. I've known him for over three years. Due to... _various circumstances_  I spend an awful lot of time with him. I probably spend more time with him than anybody else does. I don't even know how that happened to me, but it's always been that way, ever since we met right before our first year of middle school. Actually, I'm probably the only person in Japan that he's always had consistent contact with since he first moved here all those years ago. Yes, that's right, even when he's been out of the country, somehow, we've always managed to stay in touch. That being said, I kind of know him best. Oh, and the truth is that...sometimes I feel like I'm the only person that knows  _the real_ Echizen Ryoma. After years of careful observation I've noticed that everybody else is oblivious to how much of a bully he is.

I mean, I'm living proof of that. Even though most people that know us would consider us to be friends, which sometimes, even I question this, but we probably are (kind-of), he bullies me  _the most_. No...maybe we're not kind-of friends. Well, sometimes I think we are, sometimes I think we're  _definitely not,_ but most of the time...I've simply viewed our relationship as...a bully...

...and his victim.

So I'm somewhat of an expert on him and his bullying tactics, and believe me when I say this...

He. Is. A. Bully!

Oh fear not, I'm going to tell you everything and then you can tell me what you think, all right? I must warn you though...don't get tricked on the rare occasions that he's being nice! The truth is that he's a bully.

_Definitely._

Now that I'm thinking about the start of it all...it's strange...really. I just never would have thought that in the end, my opinion of him would be that he's a bully.

You see, the first day I'd met him, he'd actually been rather sweet to me, despite my blunders. He'd saved me on the train from the older boy swinging his tennis racquet at my face, (though he later denied seeing me there) and instead of being angry with me for giving him bad directions and then blundering horribly in my attempts to make amends he'd treated me to a ponta. He'd spent some time with me and had even asked me to stay and watch his game against the older boy, well, in his way of asking which came out as 'hold my jacket for me.' Still, he'd been really nice, and then very, very cool when he'd played tennis. I'd been inspired by him and struck all at the same time.  _It was love._ I was instantly in love with him. At the tender age of twelve.

_What a mess._

The next day at school, I'd started to see glimpses of his true colors, that is, that he is a bully. First, he claimed he hadn't remembered me.  _The jerk._ I'd wanted to cry the whole rest of the day. Here I was all in love and inspired and he couldn't even remember all the time with me the day beforehand?

He did remember though. Later, as I'd spent more time with him, it had come up again, and he'd nonchalantly mentioned our first real meeting. Why'd he pretend like he didn't remember me before?  _Because he's a bully!_

From there, his torment of me has only progressed, but for such a long time I'd been so clueless about it. In our first year it hadn't mattered how he'd tormented me or how many times he's sent me off crying, I'd always gone back for more. I'd been blindly in love with the bully. In fact, I'd gone out of my way to try to please him and get him to notice me.  _Oh, how silly I was._

He'd noticed me all right. He'd noticed that he could tease me, taunt me, and still get anything he wanted from me because he'd balanced it well enough for a girl struck stupid with love for him with shows of heroics (while bullying others), and a nice gesture here and there to keep me flocking to him and doing things for him.

Bentos, chocolates, cheerleading, presents. There'd been no bounds to the things I'd have done for him back then, especially since during that first year of middle school I did all those things without him asking. Imagine if he'd milked it more and asked for things back then.

That wasn't his way back then though.

No, his way was to bully me. Tennis racquet to the back of my knee as he passes me practicing paired with, "Your hair's too long, your shoulders are too wide, your hips are too wobbly, mada mada dane."

This scenario has in fact, happened repeatedly, with variations thereof in his speech ever since first year. Years ago, I'd basked in his attention and followed his advice. Well, except for my hair of course.  _My hair was not too long._ Never seeing it for what it truly was.

_More bullying._

The tennis racquet and mada mada dane speech has been his most consistent bully tactic. It's happened now by my account, at least once a week for the past three years. Except for when we aren't talking.

And oh, there are reasons for that, and believe me, it all comes back down to more bullying.

_When had it first started?_ When I'd first started to realize our relationship was anything but normal? Hmm...I suppose it was during the summer of our second year of middle school. Of course it would take something drastic to pop me out of my love bubble and see things for how they really are.

See, after our first year, Ryoma-kun had left for America. I had thought it was for good and I'd been supportive of his bright tennis future, but personally sad that I wouldn't see him anymore. I stupidly thought things had been progressing for us to a more romantic type of relationship. Well, that is, as romantic as Ryoma-kun was probably capable of.  _At thirteen no less._ When he'd left, we didn't think he was coming back, at least not for a while...so he'd given me his tennis racquet.

I'd  _melted._

In my overly romantic thirteen year old mind it had been a sure sign of love. After all, Ryoma-kun's tennis racquet had to be his most treasured possession... _and he'd given it to me!_

I should have known better with it's delivery, but back then I just hadn't realized yet what was really going on between the two of us. You see, as he'd shoved his red racquet into my hand there hadn't been much else with it besides a grunt and instructions to email him everyday.

_Everyday!_

See what I mean?

_Bully._

Of course at the time, I'd thought it was all part of his sure signs of affection, but now I knew better. That is to say, in retrospect, I can honestly say it was just more bullying. He wanted to keep dibs on me and everybody else. Forcing me into daily email was the easiest since I'm his number one bully victim.

Maybe he picks on me because I'm nice? Maybe it's because I'm a pushover? Maybe it's just because I'm around him the most? I'm still not really sure how or why I became his primary target, but I digress.

So back then I'd done as instructed and I'd obediently emailed him everyday. I emailed him about the start of second year. I told him about Kaidoh-senpai and Momo-senpai. I told him what little I would learn about our senpai-tachi that graduated when they would stop by the courts for a chat. I told him about the cherry blossoms blooming in the spring with the start of second year, and my slowly but surely made tennis progress. I told him about people I met, friends I made, and the tennis tournaments I went to. I told him about just about everything.

Here and there, I'd get a brief response. It usually had to do with some new opponent he'd met and learnt some cool new move from, or something to do with his cat. Here and there he'd complain about missing Japanese food. His emails usually ended with some sort of reinforcement bully tactic to make sure I would continue to email him everyday.

This went on for months. Until one day during the summer break of second year I got a different type of email from him.

Very different.

_I'm coming back. August 3rd, 4:00 p.m., Narita. -Ryoma_  
  
I was shocked and euphoric. It was only a day's notice, so I'd scrambled to make sure I could meet him at the airport. I'd even called Momo-senpai to see if he was going as well, only to discover he didn't know Ryoma-kun was coming back. When he'd answered the phone surprised that I was contacting him and asking if there was something wrong with Grandma, I'd realized he didn't know.

He didn't know.

_He didn't know._

How could Momo-senpai not know?

_I didn't tell him._

I wanted to. Really, I did. There was this part of me that told me I should tell him and the senpai-tachi so we could all meet him there at the airport together. But there was this other part of me that desperately wanted to know why I was the only person Ryoma-kun had told he was coming back.

So, alone, I'd rushed over to the airport to meet him. I'd been early, I knew that much, but finding him had been a challenge. He didn't tell me his flight, or what airline. I'd been standing there in the middle of the airport trying to figure out what gate to go to by reading through the flight schedule board when out of nowhere a hat was placed on my head.

Startled, I'd spun around and there he was! I was so happy to see him it took all of my energy to fight off giving him the most embarrassing glowing smile of happiness. My thoughts were swimming, my mind was overwhelmed, my heart was pounding quadruple time.

"This is the departures."

"Wha-?"

"As usual your planning is bad."

_"Ryoma-kun!"_

"Your hair's too long."

"My hair-"

He'd smiled then, grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards the exit.

_I'd been struck dumb._

I mean...seriously...he'd smiled... _at me._

It was as startling as when he'd given me his racquet before he'd left. He'd smiled like he was happy to see me. I actually felt like he was maybe as happy to see me as I was to see him. My mind had still been reeling from his smile when he'd grasped my hand and began dragging me out of the airport. My mind now a jumbled mess of mushy jelly, I'd been able to do nothing except follow him with my faint blush and silly love struck smile on my face. It was a good thing he had his back to me as he'd pulled me along too, because I don't know as though I would have ever been able to live down what I'm sure must have been my stupidest, most pathetic look  _ever_.

He hadn't had much on him. Just his tennis bag and his racquet and he'd effortlessly guided us to the train station, and despite his long absence, he directed us back to his family's home without so much as a misstep or a pause to look up and read signs.

When we'd arrived, he'd unlocked the gate, and then the house, gesturing for me to proceed him inside.

I'd slipped my shoes off in the entryway with a quiet 'sorry to disturb' to the dwelling and waited for Ryoma-kun to follow. He shrugged off his tennis bag and propped it up against the hallway wall. Unzipping the top he'd put his racquet inside as well and then shrugged off the leather jacket he was wearing and handed it to me.

I'd stared at his jacket blankly for minute and then catching on, I'd shuffled to the closet and hung it up on a hanger.

Can I just take a second to pause yet again and point out what a bully he is to me? I mean, what did I look like? His personal valet?

As I was hanging his jacket up, I'd realized I was still wearing his hat, so I'd removed it from my head and placed it on top of the shoe cabinet in the entryway.

Ryoma-kun led the way into the living room and flopped himself onto the couch there. I'd sat down next to him as he'd finally started explaining.

"I'm going to the U-17 Invitational Camp tomorrow with the old team."

I had no idea what the U-17 Invitational Camp was, but it sounded impressive, and whatever it was, it was enough to get him to come back to Japan. So I'd grinned, "Awesome Ryoma-kun!"

"I'm going to play against high school players."

If he was trying to impress me about his tennis skills, he was at least a year too late. I'd been impressed with his tennis the day I met him. Three years later, I'm still impressed with his tennis all the time. I don't even think Ryoma-kun knows that I'm his biggest supporter and that will never change,  _no matter how much he bullies me._  I'm just not usually very vocal about my support. What can I say? I'm a pretty quiet girl. Sometimes, he brings it out in me though...my... _fangirling_  over his tennis _._

"I'm sure you'll be number 1, Ryoma-kun!" I'd said with a smile, no coaxing necessary. We were alone, it was a special day. I loved supporting his tennis goals, it's kind-of what our relationship is founded on after all. So of course I gushed my support to him. I really believed it too.

I still believe that of Ryoma-kun...that he'll become number one in the world.

It wasn't the first time I'd told him directly that I believed he'd be number one. I'd first told him that the day he'd left for the US Open. I'd told him again when he'd left (for what I thought for good) to go to America before second year started. So I don't know what it was about  _that time_ , but...

The words had barely left my mouth before he'd closed the distance between us and kissed me.

I'd been so startled, I'd quickly scrambled backwards, "Ryoma-kun? What are you...?"

Without any hesitation, he'd followed me across the couch. As he'd loomed over me, and I'd leaned back towards the armrest behind me he'd quirked an eyebrow at me, "What are you doing?"

_Was he going to kiss me again?_  I flushed and leaned back further, "Wha-what do you mean what am  _I_ doing? You-you...!"

His eyes had narrowed for a second before he'd grabbed the end of my braid that was hanging off the side of the couch and given it a tug.

" _Ouch!_ Ryoma-kun! Don't pull my hair!"

I'd barely caught his smirk at my protest before he'd once again closed the distance between us and started kissing me,  _again._ This time, I'd been a little bit more prepared for it, but I'd also been cornered into the edge of the couch with nowhere to scramble away to. I'd still wiggled back a bit in embarrassment, but the distance between myself and the armrest had only been a few inches and Ryoma-kun had easily followed me, without even barely breaking contact. I found myself with my head resting against the armrest, Ryoma-kun's left hand wrapped around the tail of my right braid, and the tip of his tongue licking at the parting of my lips. Instinctively, I'd opened my mouth and suddenly everything had fallen into place as if we'd been kissing forever.

It...it was... _amazing._

It was  _crazy!_

I mean, Echizen Ryoma was  _kissing_  me.  _ME!_  He was  _kissing me!_

I was kissing him back too, and oh, he was laying on top of me on the couch in the living room of his parents' house and...ahh... _it was like a dream._

I just...I suddenly felt so... _close_ to him.

_It was incredibly intimate._

It must have been at least an hour or so that we'd been lying there together kissing on the couch, because the next thing I knew, the sun was setting and Ryoma-kun was grumbling to me about being hungry. He was standing above me as he straightened out his clothes and combed his hair with his fingers before smirking down at me. I was still laying there on the couch in a bit of a stupor when he'd stopped grumbling and said, "Sakuno."

Snapped out of my dream state, I'd locked eyes with him, "Huh?"

He shook his head back and forth and I could  _swear_ I could hear the 'mada mada dane' that he wasn't saying. "Can you make some dinner?"

Now completely back to myself, I'd realized my situation. Instantly flustered, I'd shot off the couch, and wobbled into Ryoma-kun. He'd steadied me as I'd patted my hair down over my braids and untwisted my dress so that the front of it was realigned properly.

"Ryoma-kun, your parents aren't coming home?" I'd asked.

"After I get back from camp. Tonight I'm alone," He explained.

Oh.

"Me too, Grandma went to some conference-"

"Coach Ryuzaki isn't home?" Ryoma-kun asked, interrupting me.

"Ah, no, it's just-"

He'd grabbed my hand once again and started pulling me towards the front door, "We should go to your place. You'll have food and it won't be so dusty."

"Wha-?"

Releasing my hand at the entryway to put my shoes back on, he'd disappeared for a few minutes. Feeling completely lost as to what his plans were now, I just heaved a sigh and put my shoes back on.

Soon enough, Ryoma-kun had rejoined me with a small duffle bag in tow. He stepped past me and quickly slipped his shoes back on. Grabbing his tennis bag off the floor, he'd slung it over his shoulder. Finally he grabbed his hat off of the top of the shoe rack.

"Come on, Sakuno, I'm starving," He'd complained as he'd stepped out of the house.

I'd shuffled past him, still not really sure what was going on. He'd locked the door and led the way and I'd had to almost run to keep up with his quick pace.

A few minutes later, we were at the gate for my house, then the door, and then I was letting us both in. (Ryoma-kun was practically shoving me in through the doorway was more like it, that bully.) We both paused at the door to change into some house slippers and then Ryoma-kun was steering me into my own kitchen.

Taking a seat at the counter, he turned expectant eyes at me.

 


	2. Chapter Two

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Two

* * *

So let's get back to how Echizen Ryoma is a bully.

See how I'm now being forced to make him dinner? Notice how he just assumed he was welcome in my house for me to make dinner for him?

Okay, so honestly, at that time he'd assumed correctly, I mean, I was completely in love with him when I was thirteen and we'd just been making out for an hour or so at his house after not seeing each other for a few months, so...

Still. He could have offered to take me out for dinner or something. Of course at the time I hadn't thought of that. I'd been too overwhelmed by all the kissing and the implications of the kissing...you know...like  _maybe Ryoma-kun liked me._

I hadn't known better yet though. I hadn't figured out yet that he was a bully and that kissing me was just one of the ways he liked to bully me. In fact...of all the things he does to bully me...it's the worst one...by far.

Back then, I'd happily made dinner for the both of us. After we'd finished eating and I was busy cleaning up the kitchen, I'd found out what Ryoma-kun had meant earlier about being at my place.

He was planning on staying over.

No joke!

As soon as he'd found out I was alone that night as well, he'd decided we'd have a sleepover!  _For reals!_ A sleepover! With a boy! With the boy I was hopelessly in love with! With the boy I'd just spent that afternoon making out with and...I wasn't ready for this.

_Was he crazy?_

"I'm going to take a bath," Ryoma-kun had announced as he'd stood up from the table after dinner.

I'd almost dropped the cup I was washing as I'd blushed. Keeping my back to him, I stammered out an, "O-o-okay." I scrubbed at the cup extra hard, determined NOT to think about Ryoma-kun in  _my bath_.

A second later, I did drop the cup, as Ryoma-kun had breathed into my ear, "Where's the bath?"

Ryoma-kun and I both watched the glass hit the bottom of the sink and break into a few pieces. We stood there together in silence for a few seconds, watching the hot steamy water flood out of the faucet onto the broken pieces of glass before he said, "You're jumpy."

I had instantly flushed again, and defended myself, "Ryoma-kun startled me!"

As I reached into the sink to begin picking up the broken pieces of glass, Ryoma-kun had grabbed my wrist, halting my action, "Do it later." He turned off the faucet with his other hand.

Finally, I looked over at him. He was giving the broken glass in the sink a serious look and I was overcome with a desperate desire to know what he was thinking. I'd just opened my mouth to ask, when his head had snapped up and he looked at me for a second before he'd tugged at my arm from my wrist that was still in his grip. We started walking out of the kitchen into the living room as he asked yet again, "Where's the bath?"

I could feel his boredom with the subject oozing out of him as I dripped sink water from my fingertips and he pulled me along behind him. Wanting to get it over with, I wrenched my wrist free of his hold and rushed ahead of him and up the stairs towards the bathroom, "This way."

As I'd turned on the bathroom lights, I'd heard Ryoma-kun's footsteps bounding up the stairs and busied myself with the mundane bath chores like setting out a clean towel and making sure the hamper wasn't full.

He entered the changing area and stopped. Grabbing the fresh towel from my hands, he'd given me a dismissing nod and a quick thanks.

I scurried out of the bathroom and back towards the kitchen. In fact, I couldn't have gotten back to the kitchen faster. I don't think I'd felt so awkward or embarrassed before in my whole life!

Carefully picking up the shards of glass, I'd told myself yet again to definitely NOT think about the fact that Ryoma-kun was taking a bath in my house while we were home  _alone._ Unfortunately, that thought was blown out of the water a few minutes later when Ryoma-kun had yelled for me.

Imagining the worst, I'd rushed back up the stairs and flung the door open to the changing area. Staring at the closed door that led into the bath area, I called back, "Ryoma-kun?"

"Good. You're here. Come wash my back for me, would you?" He called back through the door.

I'd grasped onto the edge of the counter in the changing area, and just about fainted. Here I was thinking he'd fallen and hit his head or something scary and instead he was demanding I wash his back?

_Waitaminute..._

_Was he serious?_  I visualized what it must look like on the other side of the door. Steam wafting around the room from the hot bathwater. Ryoma-kun scantily clad in a short bathing towel, his skin slightly glowing from the added moisture in the room. He'd be sitting on the stool washing his hair. Soap dripping into one squinting eye, a tub of warm water sitting next to him for rinsing.

Oh...ohhh...

_And he wanted me to go in there and wash his back?_  Or was he just messing with me? He had to be messing with me, right? Stuff like this just never really happened. Ryoma-kun had a tendency to surprise me though (I mean, hello, he'd suddenly kissed me earlier that afternoon) so I didn't know.

I'd stood there for it must have been quite a few minutes, staring at the closed door, holding myself up against the counter, my mind spinning in turmoil and doubt.

"Hurry up! It's cold and I want to get in the bath!" Ryoma-kun had finally called through the door again impatiently.

His demands suddenly spurred me into action. I'd quickly started removing my clothes and wrapped a bathing towel around my body. Placing my hand against the sliding door handle, I'd announced with more bravery than I felt, "Okay. I-I'm coming in n-now."

I slowly slid the door open. As I felt the steam rush out of the room and envelope my body I felt my face flush with embarrassment. Ryoma-kun had looked up from the bathing stool, a bucket of water in one hand and a bar of soap in the other.

"Close the door! You're letting all the hot air out!" He complained as he caught sight of me.

I quickly stepped into the room and spun around snapping the door shut. I put my forehead against the door for a second trying to talk myself into being as cool about this as Ryoma-kun was being.  _Get it together, Sakuno! It's just a bath! People do this all the time!_

Resolved, I turned back towards Ryoma-kun and cautiously made my way over to him. He deposited the bar of soap into my right hand and then slouched over a bit, trying to make it easier for me to reach his whole back. Like a robot, I mechanically rubbed the soap over his shoulders and followed his spine down, down, down...as the soap began to lather, I leaned over Ryoma-kun and set it down on the shelf. I rubbed my hands over his shoulders again, spreading the lathered soap across his back and rubbed my way down, down, down, and that's when my consciousness caught up with me once again and it hit me all at once.

I was rubbing Ryoma-kun. I was rubbing a mostly naked Ryoma-kun! This was complete skin on skin contact! The only thing preventing me from seeing...small towel...and...and...

As my thoughts had ran away with themselves and my entire body had began to heat up, Ryoma-kun had decided his back was clean enough and without warning, the bucket of water he'd been holding was being dumped down his back from the top of his neck. The water soaked the front of my towel as it slid between the small distance separating his naked back with my towel only clad front.

The shock of the water startled my wayward thoughts, and I'd instinctively removed my hands from his back. Taking a step back, I covered my arms protectively across my wet front. I tucked my towel in around my chest more tightly.

Ryoma-kun had stood and turning towards me he gestured to the stool, "I can wash your back now."

"N-n-n-no."

_Absolutely not. No way. To wash my back, I would have to remove the towel far enough and then I..._

Ryoma-kun grimaced. Grabbing my right wrist, he pulled me towards him. Slipping on the soapy wet tiles beneath us, I flailed my other arm, and grabbed onto Ryoma-kun as he'd quickly moved closer, both of us desperately trying not to fall. His arms wrapped tightly around my waist, my hands grasping onto his shoulders, we stood there for a few seconds, both of us panting for breath.

My heart was racing out of control. Not only had I almost slipped and fallen in the bathroom, but now I was wrapped up in Ryoma-kun's arms and we were both wet and practically naked.

_How had it come to this point?_

"Che, always so clumsy," Ryoma-kun complained against my ear as he caught his breath.

Oh, but I could still feel his frantically beating heart against my chest, it was drumming in time with the frantic beat of my own. How could I miss it? All that was separating our chests was the thin towel I was wearing. I could feel his entire wet body pressed up against mine, from his shoulders to his torso to his legs, and it was...it was so hot. I was so hot. I was feeling so light headed, I was sure I was going to pass out at any second.

_What was wrong with me?_

_I needed to get out...IMMEDIATELY, but Ryoma-kun was holding me so tightly and it felt kind-of amazing so I..._

"R-r-ryoma-kun..."

"Hn," He grunted into the side of my head.

"You-you saved me."

"If you crack your head open, Coach would never forgive me."

_What? What did that mean? Did that mean he only cared because he didn't want to get in trouble? He didn't care if I was hurt or not? Why would he? Why wouldn't he...?_

That was when I felt  _it._

His...his... _hand_...it was pulling my towel down my back, ever so slowly. I'd almost missed it, until his fingertips had grazed against where my bra would usually sit on my bare back. My mouth had dropped open in shock.

_Just what did he think he was doing?_

As I'd yelped out a protest, and shoved hard against his chest, I'd naturally slipped on the still soapy wet tiles. My feet gave way underneath me and flew into the air as Ryoma-kun had lunged forward after me. He'd clutched onto the back of my head as I'd grabbed at his towel in an effort to not fall over backwards. Realizing what I'd almost tugged lose, I'd shrieked again and released my grip on his towel as I'd landed on my butt. Ryoma-kun toppled over me, but ultimately cushioned my head with his hand from the tiles beneath me.

Once again, I was wrapped up in his arms, the two of us panting. I could feel every rise and fall of his chest, and feel the puffs of his breath against my temples as I laid there sprawled on the bathroom floor doing a mental checklist of my body parts. I thought I was okay, nothing seriously hurt. I would have a killer bruise on my bum, but other than that...

"All I wanted was a bath," He suddenly whispered.

That was when I felt  _it_ and as my mind swirled and my heart raced...

...everything went black.


	3. Chapter Three

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Three

* * *

It was the first time in my life, I would be awakened by kisses. As I had slowly left the mists of some dream, I had known somewhere in my consciousness that I was being kissed. Light caresses swept from the side of my neck, up my chin, to my ear, then towards my mouth before ghosting across my lips and trailing down to the other side of my neck.

I let out a sigh of delight as I felt a nip at my neck. Finally, I won the battle with my eyes to open. They blinked open, and as they adjusted to the soft glow of my nightlight, I took in the top of Ryoma-kun's head and it all came rushing back to me.

That day, the airport, his house,  _making out on the couch,_  my house, dinner,  _the...bath..._

Wait a minute.

_I...fainted?_

Ryoma-kun's face hovered over mine and gave me a smirk, "Ah, you finally woke up."

I gave him a puzzled look, "What...what happened?"

"You fainted."

_Well, yes, but how did I end up in my bed?_

I glanced around for a second, looked down towards my chest and noticed I was dressed in a large t-shirt, "I'm...how did I...?"

"Get out of the bath? Get dressed?" Ryoma-kun asked.

I nodded.

He rolled his eyes, "Isn't it obvious?"

_Oh. Right._

In my defense at my confusion, my brain was still a little slow, I mean I'd just woken up after fainting. Now that I was starting to think more clearly, I quickly put two and two together.  _Of course Ryoma-kun carried me out of the bath and put me in bed and dressed me..._

Wait.

"Ryoma-kun!" I felt my body heat up once again in embarrassment as I realized the full implications of that.

"Did you? What?  _What did you see?"_  I squealed frantically as I wrapped my arms around my chest protectively.

Ryoma-kun laughed wickedly as he dropped his forehead against mine. He paused for a second and then whispered conspiratorially, "I...saw... _everything."_

Blink...

Blink...blink...

Blink...blink...blink...

Wait...

_WHAT?_

What...just...what did he mean by  _everything?_

Did he seriously mean...

_Everything?_

I didn't even know how to react to that!

My mind had drawn a blank. A big, wide, white BLANK. Probably from  _sudden emotional trauma._ So I'd just laid there on my back, in my bed, wearing nothing but a t-shirt (that wasn't even mine, it must have been Ryoma-kun's), staring up at him in shock and horror. I realize that most girls would have at the very least called him a pervert. Some would have promptly kicked him out of their bed, out of their room, or even out of the house,  _but_  I'm not the kind of girl that stands up for herself. I'm just not. I've never really been outspoken in that way. I just kind-of take whatever the world wants to dish out to me. It must be one of the reasons why Ryoma-kun always bullies me. I mean, honestly, it's probably my fault for being such an easy target.

After I'd been thoroughly traumatized by his confession, he'd kissed me again. Dropping his mouth on mine he'd slowly slid the tip of his tongue against my lips, coaxing my mouth to open further. Without hesitation, I'd responded. Kissing him back, I'd wrapped my arms around his shoulders as he'd dropped his weight on top of me, wedging a knee between my legs, stroking circles into my sides, rubbing the soft t-shirt against my bare flesh underneath it.

My mind had whirled on repeat, not sure what to make of it as my body had naturally gone through the motions.  _He'd already seen everything._

_He'd already seen everything..._

_Everything._

On top of that, he'd already kissed me, and  _I was already in love_   _with him._

Oh yes, I was his for the taking and oh...he knew it all right.

That jerk!

Oh, but even then I didn't really understand yet. I didn't understand Ryoma-kun yet. I still had my rose-colored love glasses on concerning him.

After another hot and heavy make-out session, we'd finally nodded off to sleep. The alarm had sounded bright and early, and like a newly wedded couple we rose together, brushed our teeth together, and enjoyed breakfast together. I even sent him off with a bento for lunch that day at camp and he'd planted a sweet parting kiss on my lips before he walked off into the fresh morning air.

I'd had no doubt then that  _he liked me_  and  _we were together._ It didn't matter that he hadn't said anything official. Ryoma-kun has never been much of a talker...I've always known that about him. Back then was no different. I knew he didn't talk much, and it made sense to me that he especially didn't talk about...you know... _things like that._  Like when he'd given me his racquet in the spring before he'd left for New York? After he'd come back and all  _those things_  had happened, I'd been positive on his feelings. That morning,  _I was convinced_  that I'd been right that giving me his racquet was a sign of his love. I was so happy. Ryoma-kun was all mine and I was all his!

_Or so I'd thought._

A month later disaster struck.

It was the first day back to school after summer break. It was on that still warm day in early September at the start of our second term of our second year of middle school that I'd discovered the truth about Ryoma-kun and me. It was the day I received my first taste of the times when we were not talking to each other. It was the day I really started to see  _the real_  Ryoma-kun.

_It was the day my rose colored love glasses came off._

With the end of summer break, the U-17 camp had ended. I hadn't heard anything about it even after Grandma had come back home, and I had no idea what was going on with Ryoma-kun. I'd continued to send him daily emails, with no responses, and I had no idea if he'd be returning to New York after the camp or returning back to Seigaku. Of course, I was hoping he'd be staying in Japan, especially since at that moment in time I pretty much considered him to be my boyfriend.

So imagine my surprise when my very excited to see that Ryoma-kun was back at school with me greeting received nothing more than a slight glance followed by a flat, "Ryuzaki." He hadn't even paused as he'd walked past me. I'd been so stunned I'd simply watched him walk towards the school building as I stood there frozen with shock.

_Did that really just happen?_

That morning, I stood there at the school gate watching him walk away from me and I was washed instantly over with shame and heartbreak.

_I wanted to die._

I wanted to find a hole in the ground and bury myself there. I wanted to leave the school. I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, wanted to see  _him_ again.

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that after he'd done... _that,_  and  _that,_  and  _that_...that he could just...

_Act like nothing had happened!_

I had rushed to the bathroom and after crying my eyeballs out to the toilet, I'd washed my face, and headed to the nurse's office. Faking girl issues, I'd stayed there for the rest of the day. I watched the clock like a hawk for the day to end. When the final bell finally rang, I'd gathered my belongings and rushed through the school gates, and all the way home during the time the boys would be in the team's room, changing for tennis practice. That way, there'd be no way that I would see  _him._

I'd been hoping that the next day would be at least a little bit better, but no. It had not.

The next day, I'd been devastated to discover that Ryoma-kun was put in my class. How would I ever manage being with him all day every day? I'd always been very aware of him since I'd liked him so much, but after...after...well, after  _those things happened,_  I became extra, hyper-aware of him.

Really, I can feel his presence so profoundly it's almost like I have a sixth sense, ah..a Ryoma-kun sense. Yes, I have a Ryoma-kun sense. I know it sounds weird, but if you've ever been crazy about someone, you know what I'm talking about!

During second year of middle school, my hyper-awareness of him made me feel like I was constantly being eaten alive by him. I could barely think straight most of the day because all I could think about was Ryoma-kun and what had happened.

Even worse was that I wasn't in the same class as Tomo-chan or anybody else from last year. During the first term I'd gotten used to being the only one of my friends in my class, but now...now it was me and Ryoma-kun.

_Just_ me and Ryoma-kun.

At least I was able to see my friends during lunch. Even though I didn't tell Tomo-chan about anything that had happened, my wonderful best friend was insightful enough to know that something was bothering me and took it upon herself to fill all my time with ramblings and planning fun girl things we could do together. I was ever so grateful, and I think Tomo-chan knew that as well.

The first two weeks of our second term of our second year of middle school had been filled with class, and rushing home after school. I hadn't even made it to one of the tennis practices yet, and Momo-senpai had already sought me out twice to give me a hard time about it. I'd begged off with excuses that sounded lame even to my own ears, but Momo-senpai had left it with a simple, "Well, we miss you Ryuzaki-chan. We hope to see you again soon."

I started to become eaten up with guilt over it. Just because I had a problem with Echizen Ryoma didn't mean I shouldn't be supporting my friends. It was just too painful for me still. My emotions were still raw, the pain in my heart was still so enormous. I felt so... _stupid and used._

So imagine my surprise and outrage when I'd finally mustered up enough courage to stay after school only to be bullied.

I'd been around the backside of the school, some distance away from the tennis courts, though I was close enough to hear the comforting thwonks of the boy's practice. It felt good to hear the familiar sound of tennis balls being served, returned, smashed and otherwise. I was keeping myself busy by hitting a ball against the wall of the school, trying to keep my swing steady and controlled. I was also trying to refamiliarize myself with my old pink racquet. It was too painful to use Ryoma-kun's old red one that he'd given me, even though it was far superior in quality to my old pink one. I'd even chucked away all the tennis balls I'd drawn Ryoma-kun's face on, and replaced them with a set of fresh balls with nothing but my name hastily scribbled on them.

I heaved out a sigh as I tried to focus on my form, focusing on where I needed to improve rather than on the sounds coming from the courts. Rather than on Ryoma-kun's overpowering presence and what he was doing that very moment or how well he was probably playing. Rather than on what everybody surely must be thinking by now about Ryoma-kun's return to the school and my sudden abandonment of tennis practices.

I'd been so focused on my swing, that I hadn't heard the telltale signs of someone approaching. Of that very one approaching me pausing their footsteps.

Oh, but I definitely felt the rounded top of a tennis racquet being shoved into the back of my knee. I stumbled forward slightly and watched sadly as my ball bounced past me. I'd finally been on a roll! Spinning on my attacker, I caught Ryoma-kun's back and almost launched my racquet at his head in anger as he called back to me, "Your knees are too bent, your shoulders are too wide, your hair is too long, your racquet is too pink."

He'd done that to me before, though last year I'd taken it all as friendly advice, maybe even borderline flirting. Now I just took it as harassment.

After all,  _what did I have to do with him now?_

Furious, I'd stomped in the direction my ball had bounced off to, retrieved it, stuffed it into my bag with my racquet and headed home. My thoughts were overwhelmed with him and processed through every word he said over and over again.

I thought it was interesting that he'd even noticed let alone commented on the fact I was using my pink racquet instead of his red one. Well, good. At least he noticed that I didn't want anything to do with his red racquet anymore!

That... _bully._

That was just the beginning though.

There is oh...oh...so much more to it than that.

 


	4. Chapter Four

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Four

* * *

After our...racquet to the knees encounter, I'd actually started to feel more comfortable around Ryoma-kun again. Strange as that was. You'd think after making out with a guy, groping in a bathroom half naked and then making out all night after  _he'd seen everything_ would have a lifelong effect on our interactions, but not really. Not with someone like Echizen Ryoma anyways.

He was practically a genius at acting like none of that had ever taken place. I was back to Ryuzaki. He would bully me, or tease me, or taunt me, or save me as he'd always done in first year. Acting the same as I'd been around him before had come almost naturally.

Though...I never forgot you see. I never forgot that I knew now. I knew he was a bully. I knew he didn't love me. I knew there was no future for us...romantically. I wasn't even sure if I could be a real friend to him. An acquaintance? Sure. A fan? Always, though perhaps not so very verbally anymore...it was even more reserved. A classmate? I could handle that, so long as I didn't think about... _that day._

The good of it was, the nervousness around him? It had vanished. If anything, he would make me irritated, but generally speaking it was half heartbreak, half passiveness. The pain of it, it never fully went away, but so long as he wasn't bullying me, I didn't get upset. Besides, being upset with Echizen Ryoma is a waste of energy. The guy is a brick wall.

Oh, but how he had decided very much that he loved to bully me. He'd always done it, and I hadn't picked up on it until our whole situation had happened during that second year of middle school, but if there was one thing that had changed for Ryoma-kun ever since then, it's  _how much_ he bullies me.

It all started that year, and it hasn't stopped yet...

At least once a week, I get the racquet to my knees, with insults about my tennis. He always adds fuel to the taunting by reminding me through some snide comment or another that I'm back to using my old pink racquet. At this point I feel like it's practically a ritual for us. To this day, I swear I can predict when it's coming.

During our English lessons, he always partners with me, just to make fun of my mispronounced words and my horrible accent.

During tennis season every Friday includes a guilt trip on why I need to make him a bento for lunch during the tournament that weekend.

During that second term of our year of middle school, was really when it was the worst for me. I was so heartbroken, he was so demanding and impassive and I...just hadn't had any idea how to deal with him yet.

Despite all that it's the things that he does when he isn't being an obvious bully that really get to me.

Like I said, it was during our second year of middle school that this all started, and the worst of Ryoma-kun's bullying tactics started that year as well. It had been after the Kanto district tournament of the tennis season that he'd given me a taste of what it would really be like to have him in my life from then on. The taunting, the teasing, the guilt trips, those are all superficial compared to his real bullying.

If you don't already think he's a big bully, this will definitely convince you, but fear not. I have more. I have LOTS more...

So getting back to how it started during our second year of middle school, it was after we'd won the Kanto district tournament that things changed again. We'd won the tournament of course. After all, we had Kaidoh-senpai, Momo-senpai and Ryoma-kun on the team. Being the first important win of the season, we'd had a little after tournament celebration.

As was the custom, we'd headed over to Kawamura sushi. Even though Kawamura-senpai had graduated, he'd been happy to host our party. I'd been about to take a seat at the bar next to my grandmother when Ryoma-kun had tugged on the end of one of my braids, pulling me in the direction of one of the low tables.

_Do you see how he always bullies me?_

Not knowing what he would do if I didn't follow him, I'd followed after him, and sat down next to him against the back wall of the corner table. Horio-kun, Momo-senpai, Tomo-chan and Kachiro-kun had all joined us.

If anyone else had noticed how close he was sitting next to me, no-one had dared comment on it. In fact the others had joked about and celebrated without a care in the world as I had sat there, like a stone, waiting.

Waiting...

Waiting for the other shoe to drop.  _There was no doubt this was some new form of bullying._

Why had he pulled me to sit with him? Why was he sitting so close to me that our legs were fully brushing up against each other? Why this table, in the back? Against the wall? What was he going to do?

Soon enough, I had found out. _It was to keep me there._

Like a prisoner.

Every time I so much as moved an inch, he  _pinched_ me. Sitting so close to me, behind the table he'd done it so effortlessly too. Eating with his left hand, touching me with his right. No-one would ever suspect that Echizen Ryoma was... _touching me_ behind the cloak of the table.

If I hadn't been experiencing it first hand, I never would have believed it either. As usual with Ryoma-kun,  _his face gave nothing away._

As the evening had worn on, and the others had left, he'd kept me there and kept me there, until finally he'd stood up to leave. I'd sat there unmoving as he'd made a show of looking around the room.

"Ne...Ryuzaki. Where did the Coach go?"

I'd looked around myself and noticed that my grandmother had indeed seemed to have slipped away. In fact, as I was looking around I noticed that only Momo-senpai, Kaidoh-senpai and Horio-kun were left, and the three of them had just moved their heated argument over to the table that was next to the one Ryoma-kun and I were at. Apparently there was still a bit of food left over at the table next to us that Kaidoh-senpai had been sitting at all evening. Though, I can't say if it was the lure of the food or the argument that had moved Momo-senpai and Horio-kun from our table.

"She must have gone home," I responded to Ryoma-kun's question. In my mind, I was willing him to leave - to leave me alone already.

"Ah...let's go then. I need to talk to her about something, so I'll walk you home."

_Dare I defy him?_

I quickly weighed my options. Go home now with Ryoma-kun or wait for one of the other boys, that is, if they were willing. Still, I'd have to somehow figure out how to get out of walking with Ryoma-kun after he'd so much as announced he was walking me home if I wanted to go with one of the other boys. I'd be questioned. It would get weird.. _.fast..._

It wasn't really a big deal to go with him, was it? We'd put the past behind us for the most part. We were good at pretending nothing had happened by then.

Plus, it was dark outside, so having one of the boys walk me home was a good idea, wasn't it? Ryoma-kun would be as good as anybody for protection purposes and the other boys weren't ready to leave. Besides, Ryoma-kun wanted to talk to Grandma, so it made sense to go with him.

So really, the truth was that Ryoma-kun had somehow maneuvered things so that I had no choice but to go with him, and I was trying to talk myself into it being my idea.  _The truth was that I had to leave with him unless I wanted to make a scene._

I don't really make scenes. Not usually...maybe it's just one more reason why Ryoma-kun always targets me when he wants to bully someone around...

Resigned, I'd stood up from the floor. Saying our goodbyes to Kawamura-senpai and the others, we made our way out to the street.

It wasn't until we were alone out on the street that I realized my mistake.

We were alone.

_As in...alone, alone._

I hadn't really been alone with him since that fateful day during summer break. Sure we'd had brief semi-private interactions at school since then, but  _nothing like this._

No-one else was around. We weren't at school. It was just us, the dark streets, the moon and the stars.

Suddenly feeling supremely uncomfortable, I'd shifted my eyes upwards, and focused my attention on the bright night luminaries. Of my options, they were certainly the safest, and the best place to look.

Or so I'd thought.

That was until Ryoma-kun had used it as an excuse.

As we'd moved farther and farther away from Kawamura sushi in silence, he'd suddenly grabbed my right hand that was closest to him. Startled at his action, I'd looked away from the moon and met his eyes. He'd tugged me closer towards him and muttered something about keeping me from running into light posts.

I'd been about to adamantly defend my ability to avoid light posts all on my own until I'd looked forward on the sidewalk and seen a light post that, sure enough I'd been about to run into while looking at the moon. So, I did appreciate the help, but...

_He hadn't let go of my hand after the assist._

Memories of the last time he'd held my hand walking through the airport had flooded me, and as I'd felt my heartbeat speed up in anticipation, I was flooded with the most shocking of horrible realizations.

_I still liked Echizen Ryoma._

Was I crazy? Was I a masochist? What was my problem? How was it possible that I still liked him at all? Why was my heart racing so? Why was I hoping he would touch me more? Why was I hoping that somehow our little "walk" home would include a goodnight kiss, or maybe something more? The stupidest part was this little part of me was hoping maybe he did like me after all and that the past few months had all been just a fluke. Had I lost all of my sense? Surely, the truth was that even if something more happened  _he would just break my heart again on Monday at school,_ wouldn't he?

It wouldn't take long for me to find out either.

Instead of taking me home, he'd led me to his house. Being as directionally challenged as I am...especially at night...especially while  _holding hands with Ryoma-kun_ at the same time, I almost didn't notice that we'd passed the turn for my house and were headed to his place, but I did.

"Ah, Ryoma-kun, I thought we were going to my house?"

"Yada."

I had looked at my cell phone then, noting the late time and began to worry if I would get in trouble.

" _Where_ are we going?"

"My house."

What the? Why? WHY? WHY? Not sure what to say or do, I let him lead me all the way to his house. Entering the front door, we both paused to slip our shoes off.

"Ryoma-kun, why did we come here?" I finally asked.

Ryoma-kun, who had been making his way into the family room, stopped and turned back towards me with his trademark mischievous smirk, "I'm home alone tonight."

Oh.

...

_Oh._

_..._

OH!

Wait...he didn't think that... _that_  was going to happen again,  _did he?_

I stomped into the family room after him demanding, "Ryoma-kun, take me home!"

"Yada."

"I don't care if you don't want to, I'll get in trouble if I don't get home soon as it is and-" I stopped as Ryoma-kun had pulled his red cell phone out of his pocket and dropped it into my hand. I stared at his phone dumbly.

What?

"Call Coach. Tell her you're staying at Osakada's..."

_He'd given this some thought, hadn't he? This sneaky, sneaky boy._  Feeling irrationally flattered at his planning, I tapped his phone against my chin and asked somewhat teasingly, "Ryoma-kun...are you... _kidnapping_ me?"

His smirk widened into a satisfied grin. He dropped his forehead against mine, and while staring into my eyes he said against my lips, "Yes."

Unable to help myself from being charmed, I'd giggled.

I KNOW!  _I KNOW!_ I was really stupid. I just couldn't help it when he...

"Who else will wash my back, right? Sakuno?"

I'd flushed as my heart felt like it had flown out of my chest. He was...he was...acting the same as he had  _that day._ That...perfect day.

_Oh, I liked him way too much. Especially when he was like this._

Was I really going to let him do this to me again though?

Ryoma-kun had grabbed my chin then, and a second later his tongue was dropping into my already open and waiting mouth, and I knew...I knew...

My life was over because...I was a complete sucker when it came to Echizen Ryoma.

_I would stay the night._

I would stay that night and any other night he would ever ask of me. Somehow, I just knew it - that I was unable to resist him.

He'd pulled away and smirked at me again, and I had the feeling that Ryoma-kun knew it also...that I would do what he wanted.

I slapped his cell phone into his hand, and pulling my own out from my pocket, I'd made my way to the side door to call my grandmother. Sitting on the edge of the verandah that wrapped around the whole house, I tapped the speed dial for home.

"Sakuno?" My grandmother already sounded worried.

"Grandma, sorry it got so late," I began.

"That's okay, I'm happy you're safe. Where are you?"

"I'm at Ryoma-kun's."

What? I couldn't really tell her I was staying at Tomo-chan's. I never stay there because of her brothers, besides, I wasn't going to lie to her. She wouldn't care... _because it was Ryoma-kun._ Mr. Tennis Is My Life Echizen Ryoma would  _never_  do anything to me because he had no interest in anything except for tennis.

Oh... _what Grandma and the rest of the world didn't know._

"Oh, you are, are you?"

I slid some yard shoes on as I stood up from the verandah and wandered a bit into the side yard. Away from the house a bit, I explained the situation in a whisper hoping Ryoma-kun wouldn't hear, "He's home alone tonight. I don't think he wanted to be alone, but he didn't want to tell the other boys, so he dragged me here instead."

Grandma had chuckled then, "Knowing Ryoma it was probably more along the lines of he knew he could get you to cook for him."

My eye twitched a bit in irritation. Why hadn't I thought of that? Besides the kissing, it was obvious.  _She was so right._

Grandma was still laughing, "Ah, Sakuno, your silence gives you away! What has he demanded? Curry? Hotpot?"

She knew the cocky tennis prince better than I gave her credit for. Still...if she had any clue Ryoma-kun was also interested in  _that stuff,_ she wouldn't be laughing.

I twirled the tip of my finger against one of the leaves on a nearby plant and exclaimed, "It's true. _Ryoma-kun is a bully and this is just one more thing he's bullying out of me!"_

I heard a thump behind me then, and I spun around back towards the house, only to see Ryoma-kun sprawled out on the verandah snickering to himself with obvious glee. I don't think I've ever seen him laugh so hard. Before that, I didn't even know he  _could_  laugh that hard. He held one hand over his stomach and the other slightly over his mouth. Even in the darkness I could see his eyes dancing with mirth.  _What did he think was so funny? I was being completely serious._

"I gotta go Grandma, see you tomorrow."

"Have a good night, try not to get bullied into too much by that tennis prince. Bye."

"Bye."

I hit the end call button on my cell phone and stuffed it back into my pocket and started walking back towards the house and Ryoma-kun.

"That was pretty good," He said between snickers to me as I approached.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "It was all true, Ryoma-kun."

He grabbed my right forearm with his left hand and pulled me down. I crashed on top of him there on the hardwood floor of the verandah and despite the slight pains I got from the fall, I couldn't help but giggle nervously at his antics, "What are you doing?"

"Just like you said," He muttered against my lips before he was kissing me again.

I slumped into him, and I felt the yard shoes slip off my feet as my heart started pounding a million beats a minute. I ignored the sane part of myself in the back of my mind that was telling myself I was just setting up for a world of hurt. Oh...I just didn't care when I could taste Ryoma-kun like this and feel his body under mine, and his hand... _when did he get his hand in my shirt? That...that..._

My body shivered with sensation as my mind swarmed with curiosity of how in the world I had ended up doing... _this_ on Ryoma-kun's verandah tonight.

His arms circled my waist then, and he pushed me back a bit as he took a deep breath. Locking his eyes with mine he smirked, "Let's go take a bath."

I shook my head no at him.

He shifted his left hand underneath my shirt again and grazed his fingers lightly against the soft flesh of my abdomen, "I want..."

He stopped whatever he was going to say and I felt my body heat up with desire at his words and his touch.  _This was so crazy._ This was even more than last time already, and he wanted to go take a bath together now? There was just no way I could...

He shifted his weight for a second, and then he was lifting me up with him as he stood us both back up on our feet. He ran his hands down my arms, grabbed my right hand in his left and pulled me back towards the house. Stepping back into the house, he turned and closed the sliding doors shut behind us. Then he pulled me along behind him through the main room and up the stairs. We walked down the dark hallway together and reaching the upstairs bathroom Ryoma-kun turned on the light of the changing area and said, "It's just a bath, Sakuno."

 


	5. Chapter Five

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Five

* * *

He tells me it's just a bath, but I can't help feeling that he has something else planned and he's just bullying me into doing what he wants... _same as...always._

So there we were in the changing room. I had my back to Ryoma-kun and all I could seem to do was stare at the wall, frozen with fear.

_This was...crazy!_

After a minute or two, after all it's not like my panicking mind was capable of really counting, I was shocked back into the present as Ryoma-kun grabbed the edge of my shirt and started to pull it up.

I shrieked and elbowed him as both of my hands landed on top of his, instantly tugging my shirt in the opposite direction Ryoma-kun was pulling. Undeterred, he continued to yank up on the end of my shirt forcefully as I scrambled to undo his progress.

_"What are you doing?"_

"Helping you undress."

_"But I don't want your help!"_

Grunt. Huff.

_"Stop it!"_

"Take your clothes off."

_"I don't WANT to!"_

He paused for a moment then to laugh wickedly.

I turned my head to his face, probably giving him the most scandalized look I was capable of making.

"I've seen it all already. Remember?"

See how he torments me? As if I wanted to remember that!

"Besides...it's good practice," He finally added when he stopped laughing at me.

I yanked one of his hands off my shirt and shoved it away from me, "Practice?  _For what?"_

His smirk widened then before his eyes narrowed a bit and he said, "For when we're married, obviously."

I flushed red at his words. This was a really cruel joke. His bullying of me...how far would he really take it? I mean, he was definitely joking...he simply had to be, but I couldn't help but flush with a bit of embarrassed pleasure at even hearing it. My heart was pounding so fast I thought it might fly out of my chest at any moment, and my face felt hotter than it had ever felt before in my entire life! Honestly, I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed. Married... _married?_ Even in jest, it was a word I never conceived of hearing coming out of Ryoma-kun's mouth. Of all the things he could have said...

_Of course he had to pick the ones that would embarrass me the most! Such a bully! Do you see how he plays with me?_

Finally, I collected my spiraling thoughts enough to regain my wits and scoff, "Married?  _Yeah, right."_

He stepped closer then, his hand I'd flung away once again resting on the edge of my shirt, before he said, "Yeah... _Married."_

We stood there for a moment in complete silence before he added a bit more lightly, "You gotta wash my back every day then."

I'd laughed then because he was definitely joking, he just had to be. I laughed because if I hadn't laughed,  _I probably would have cried._  It was so cruel.

_The whole conversation was so absurd!_ I didn't know what he was trying to prove or say, or what his goal was, but I wasn't going to let him get away with it.

"Married!?" I repeated jokingly as I laughed some more.  _"Wash your back every day?"_

I stumbled onto him sideways I was laughing so hard, and that was when I noticed he was already in nothing but a bathing towel. Taken off guard, I put my arms around his bare neck to keep myself from falling over as I added, "I never knew Ryoma-kun was so funny."

He gave me a glare as he removed my arms from his neck and said, "Whatever, Ryuzaki."

I grabbed onto him again as I laughed harder, finally finding some real humor in the whole conversation, " _NOW_ we're back to Ryuzaki?"

His eyes closed for a moment and that was when I realized he hadn't been laughing with me. I stopped laughing abruptly as all the humor of the odd conversation seemed to have quickly evaporated. My eyes narrowed with suspicion as a sick feeling began to well up in my stomach.

Just so we're clear...

"I..."

I paused, unsure...

"I would  _never_...marry  _you_."

I said it so quietly and so lowly, I almost doubted I'd even said the words aloud.

I'd said it though.

I knew I'd said it by the way Ryoma-kun's eyes flicked open. I saw a fire in them I'd never seen before and I unconsciously took a step back away from him at the intensity of it.

Oh... _I'd said it_  and I couldn't...no,  _I wouldn't_ take it back! Even if his look scared me to death.  _He'd broken my heart!_  He'd broken my trust. He was a bully and I was on to him. Even if I had the biggest crush on him and I was still crazy about being crazy about him, I would get over it someday because _I had to..._ because I could never ever,  _ever_  marry Ryoma-kun. Not like he really meant it...

Ohhhhh! Really though...I don't know  _what_  possessed me to say it. Even if it was true, and in all honesty I'm not sure if it really was, it was terrible thing to say to someone and I felt bad about it almost instantly. I'd justified it for a few seconds and then immediately began to beat myself up over it. Why was I trying to hurt him? Two wrongs didn't make a right, did they?

_Damn him for always somehow getting away with everything._

I was about to take it back when Ryoma-kun advanced on me, taking a step closer. The burning intensity of his eyes only increasing.

I took another step back, a bigger one this time, and my back rammed into the wall. I let out a squeak of surprise upon impact. Before I could even regain my bearings and get away, Ryoma-kun had wrapped me up in his arms and was kissing me.

He was kissing me like he'd never kissed me before. It was different.

_It was so different._

I didn't really understand at the time. I'm still not really sure what that kiss meant, all I know is that kiss was different and it...  _shifted things_ between us. As Ryoma-kun had pressed me into the bathroom changing room wall, consuming my very person with the intensity of his kiss I just knew somehow that this was...

Oh...I really had almost figured it out in that moment actually...now that I'm remembering it...it had been as if our very souls were talking and I...

But then Ryoma-kun had broken the kiss. I broke eye contact with him and looked down, watching his bare chest as it heaved against my own in fascination.  _Why did he have to be so perfect?_ I wanted to touch him again. The feeling of his skin when I'd wrapped my arms around him had made my body feel all kinds of exciting things and I suddenly didn't care if he was going to break my heart a million times, because if I could just...

I shifted my eyes back up to his with wonder. We stood there as we continued panting for breath. I could feel our breath mixing against each other's mouths and I was amazed yet again, that somehow, I was the girl that he was kissing in his bathroom. He was...he was Echizen Ryoma and he was bound for greatness and... _somehow_...I got this little piece of him that nobody else did.

He took in a sharp breath and then his darkly intense eyes that were only a couple of inches from my own had bored into mine with a determination that shocked me as he'd suddenly demanded, "Kiss me."

I'd barely even blinked at him as I'd tried to process his words before he was hitting the palm of his right hand against the wall next to my ear and demanding more forcefully, "Kiss me, Sakuno."

I opened my mouth to protest, but he interrupted my reeling thoughts yet again as he'd not at all gently banged his forehead against mine.

"Kiss me," He whispered.

Again, I knew it, I knew something was happening, I knew somehow...that I was giving him something important, but I couldn't resist how he sounded so desperate and I'd already wanted...

And so I tilted my chin up, and captured his bottom lip between mine, darting my tongue out to caress it, and then he was kissing me back, just as hotly as he had a moment ago when he'd started it. His hands had dropped to my hips, grasped painfully onto my hipbones, and as I'd gasped at the slight pain, he'd only deepened the kiss and  _I lost myself._

I didn't know where Ryoma-kun began or ended or where I began or ended.

I didn't know where we were or what was coming or going or anything.

I only knew Ryoma-kun.

_I was so doomed._

 


	6. Chapter Six

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Six

* * *

Surprisingly, after the all consuming melting kisses in the bathroom's changing area, that second night we spent together hadn't been too eventful. Well, not if you compared it to what had happened with us the first time we'd been in a bathroom together over at my house. Remember that?

_That night_  still holds the spot for the most...embarrassing...night.. _.ever..._

So it was the second time Ryoma-kun wanted to take a bath with me that he really got his way. In my just been kissed like there was no tomorrow stupor I'd finally stripped down and taken a normal bath with him. After the kissing, it had been surprisingly plutonic. Really, it was not what I had expected after the way he'd tried to take my clothes off in the changing room.

The bathroom there at his parent's house was bigger than ours and so we'd sat with small bathing towels on our bodies on side-by-side stools and scrubbed down. I'd washed my hair as he'd washed his. They even had two of those really nice hand-held faucets for rinsing off in their bathroom, so most of the washing required no interaction between the two of us. Unless you included that I'd scrubbed his back, and he'd scrubbed mine. After that, we'd soaked in the tub for a while.

It was all in silence.  _Which was perfectly fine with me._

I didn't know what had happened to us that night in the bathroom changing area, but I knew something had. I spent the entire time we were bathing just going through the motions while musing to myself...

_What did that all mean? What was that all about?_

And most importantly... _why?_

Like I said, it's been two years since then, and I still don't know what exactly any of that was. All I can really tell you about is what's happened since then and why I'm still more convinced than ever that Echizen Ryoma is a bully, and I'm his primary victim.

After spending that second night and morning acting once again like some sort of married couple with the bathing together and cooking and kissing... _I'd been ready for Monday._

There was no way I would let Ryoma-kun blindside me again! I was prepared this time. I'd be back to Ryuzaki, he wouldn't even look at me for who knows how long and he wouldn't talk to me unless it was absolutely necessary. I was sure of it.

So, I decided I wasn't going to play into it again.  _I_  would ignore  _him._

Of course, as always, any well thought out plan against Echizen Ryoma had backfired.

That Monday, our homeroom teacher had started the day off by giving us this big assignment. I'd been working very hard since Ryoma-kun had walked into the classroom and taken his seat behind me to ignore his existence. Ignoring him was a taxing exercise that required all my mental and physical energies since I was so hyper aware of him. So I was in one of those dreamlike states you get into when you're in school thinking about something that has nothing to do with what's going on in school. Needless to say, I wasn't really paying attention to our assignment as it was being explained to us. I was woken up by the sudden outburst of the entire class. Chairs were toppling over, people were yelling across the room, and I was...lost.

_What was going on?_

In a bit of panic, I'd turned to the girl that sat next to me on my left, "Takahashi-san, what's happening?"

The girl, who'd been about to stand up from her seat, paused and gave me a strange look, "Ryuzaki-san, weren't you listening?"

Embarrassed, I felt myself blushing as I quickly shook my head.

_It was all Ryoma-kun's fault!_

"We have to pick our partners for the assignment. Boy-girl pairs!" She had exclaimed as she'd risen out of her chair and tucked it back into her desk before jetting across the room to a boy that sat near the window.

My heart had begun to pound triple fast as the situation finally sunk in. We were pairing off in boy-girl pairs!

_Oh no!_

My eyes had quickly began scanning the room for a partner when Ryoma-kun moved in front of me, "Hey."

I turned away from him, looking towards the other side of the room, but I heard him plop into the abandoned chair of the girl that sat next to me.

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Everybody knew Ryoma-kun and I always partnered up, even for the assignments that weren't required to be boy-girl pairs.  _So that he could use the opportunity to make fun of me._  All the girls in our class that used to surround Ryoma-kun for paired projects had even given up months ago. It was always the two of us. None of the other boys were even going to look at me because they would assume I would pair up with Ryoma-kun.

That had been...that had been... _before...we'd done that...again..._

My heartbeat started thumping around my head then, and in a panic, I began gasping for breath as the teacher started shushing everybody to settle down.

It was too late. Everybody was paired off.

I shot up out of my chair, and then grasped onto the desk as my head spun in protest at the quick change in altitude.

"Ryuzaki-san, did you need something?" The teacher asked.

I swayed on my feet, feeling my life spinning out of my control and glanced to my side at Ryoma-kun for a moment before I gulped, "I-I..."

I barely noticed it as Ryoma-kun stood up.

"Ryuzaki-san?" I heard the teacher question me again, but it sounded so...far...away...

My hand pulled away from me...

I looked down at my hand in a bit of a haze as it was pulled away from me and stared at the hand that had grabbed onto it. I watched in slow motion as Ryoma-kun used my hand to pull me towards him. Also in slow motion he was saying, "Sa-ku-no?"

The classroom wavered for a moment like a heat wave rising off of the hot ground in the summer. Somewhere in my mind I was aware of a muffled flurry of noise and activity. My heart was seized with a fresh burst of paralyzing fear and then, my vision finally blacked out.

* * *

It would be the second time in my life I'd be awoken by kisses...

Unlike the first time of light, soft caresses, this time my neck was being nibbled at, and I was immediately conscious of it when I came to from my faint. In my addled brains I thought that I knew where I was and who I was with. I was half right...there was just one problem...

"Ryoma-kun," I sighed. My eyes still closed in contentment, I shifted my neck to give him better access. I  _did_ enjoy it when he did that... _I could so happily wake up every morning to this..._

"Hn," He grunted into my neck in response.

My heart had fluttered as I was reassured it was really him and it wasn't a dream.

"Is it morning already?" I whined. Oh, I didn't want it to be morning, I wished it was still night. Nighttime with Ryoma-kun when we'd spend nights together and...

Ryoma-kun lifted his head up then and as he stopped, I opened my eyes meeting his surprised, wide eyes. His gaze shifted to the side of the bed, and I followed.

Wait...

_What is that?_

_Clearly, this was not my bedroom._

I frantically swept my eyes around, seeing nothing but curtain.

_This was not Ryoma-kun's bedroom either._

I tried to push myself up from the bed out from underneath Ryoma-kun, and as he shifted out of the way I asked,  _"Where are we?"_

I stared at the white curtain pulled around the bed we were on as my mind raced through my memories for an answer as he replied, "Nurse's office."

_What?_

My gaze quickly shot back to Ryoma-kun.  _"We're at school?"_ I asked in horror.

What did he think he was doing?  _At school!_ In the nurse's office!

Where...?

"Where's the nurse?" I asked.

Ryoma-kun shrugged, "Not here."

I looked down at my crumpled school uniform with shame and pressed it down trying to regain some semblance of respectability, "What are we doing here?"

Ryoma-kun gave me a bored look, "You fainted."

I flushed in embarrassment, "I-I did?"

He gave a slight nod of acknowledgement and then rose up from the bed. Stuffing his feet back into his school slippers he reached his left hand out to me.

I took it and he helped pull me off the bed. I wobbled for a moment from the quick movement, and was grateful Ryoma-kun was there, holding onto me. Regaining my wits, I pushed him away and then leaned over to slip my school slippers back on as well.

Silently, we walked back to class as my mind whirled with confusion.

_Wasn't he supposed to be ignoring me right now?_

* * *

It wasn't until lunch that the full impact of what had happened that morning really started to sink in.

As I'd calmly sat at my desk opening up my bento, Tomo-chan had burst into my classroom and flopped into the desk in front of mine.

That, had been surprisingly, the worst part about second year. That is, Tomo-chan being in a different class than me. Like I said before, the only person I had in my second year of middle school in my class from first year was Ryoma-kun, whose biggest goal in life besides tennis seemed to be tormenting me.

"Sakunooooo...is it really true what they're saying that Ryoma-sama called you by your name and then carried you to the nurse's office?"

Her excited question startled me to attention. Wait...

_What did she just say?_

Of course at this point I let out a completely undignified, "Eh?"

"Ryoma-sama carried you to the nurse, and called you Sakuno!" Tomo-chan repeated enthusiastically.

Oh and by that time I had to have been blushing furiously, because I remembered what happened that morning, and it had included quite a bit more than just...

Wait.

"Tomo-chan...did you just say Ryoma-kun called me...Sakuno?"

There was no way...right? At school he would never...

Wait a minute... _could this be some new form of bullying?_

As my thoughts raced with terrifying possibilities of what Ryoma-kun's real objective could be with such an act, Tomo-chan had slapped her hand against the front of my desk repeatedly as she announced loudly, "Let me be the first to congratulate you for getting the prince! Kyaaa!"

Woah...woah...this conversation was quickly escalating to out of control. First of all, I didn't know what Ryoma-kun and I were, but Tomo-chan could not be thinking we were a couple! The whole school would know within an hour if she really thought he was my boyfriend. Sure, we'd had a couple of times that we'd done some  _kissing and things,_  but the last thing that was about to happen was that we would start... _dating_. Ryoma-kun had made that  _perfectly clear_  to me when he'd ignored me that first day he'd come back to school after the first time he'd kissed me. If I thought Ryoma-kun bullying me was bad, it had nothing on what would happen to me if our schoolmates thought we were together.

At one time, I would have thought it would be worth the problems I would get from other girls if I was dating Ryoma-kun. Since we weren't dating, I wasn't about to go through the bullying that would come with it without the reward of actually being with Ryoma-kun like that.

So the natural verdict was of course that... _I needed to stop the rumor, immediately._

I quickly waved my hands in front of myself, "No.  _No!_ Tomo-chan you've  _got it all wrong!_  It's not like that!"

"What do you mean it's not like that? Of course it is!" Tomo-chan had instantly replied while at the same time Ryoma-kun himself had appeared on my left.

Pulling out the chair next to me, Ryoma-kun sat down. Giving me a long look he asked in a bored tone, "What's not like that?"

My flush had instantly increased as Tomo-chan gave Ryoma-kun a startled look which quickly transformed into a knowing look my direction. She raised her eyebrows at me before she turned to Ryoma-kun and said slowly, "Oh, hi Ryoma-sama."

Ryoma-kun's eyes flicked to the side, which was his generally preferred form of acknowledging Tomo-chan's existence.

I looked down at my untouched lunch and held back a groan of frustration. This...was going to...suck.

"What's not like that?" He repeated.

_Couldn't he just drop it?_

"Nothing, Ryoma-kun."

"Hnnnn," He dragged out, while giving me a mischievous grin, and I instantly knew he'd heard more of our conversation than he was letting on.

_Oh, please no..._

"Didn't Osakada-san just say something about getting a prince?"

Both of us girls blushed this time as I frantically thought up something to say. There was no way I would let him get away with thinking we were talking about him.  _Especially not_  in a good way!

_Oh!_

Idea. Well, it's pretty stupid, but it might work. At least, it's worth a shot...

I met Ryoma-kun's eyes and felt my blush increase before I confessed, "Ah, Ryoma-kun it's a bit embarrassing, but Tomo-chan and I were talking about a video game."

Ryoma-kun raised a skeptical eyebrow.

_Damn...I'm such a terrible liar. He's seeing right through me, isn't he? Ugh._

Then Tomo-chan, my dearest best friend forever chimed in, "Oh yes! That's right.  _The game!_ Sakuno was telling me she beat it last night and got the prince."

"Sakuno likes those kinds of games?" Ryoma-kun asked.

I cursed him in my head as I kicked his chair, giving him a glare as Tomo-chan gasped.

_His bullying of me knew no boundaries apparently._

Tomo-chan was slapping her hand against my desk again as she gaped at Ryoma-kun in surprise. Finding her voice, she predictably spoke her mind on what she thought was the important part of his question, "Ryoma-sama  _does call you Sakuno_ now!"

I kicked Tomo-chan's chair and gave her a death glare while hissing,  _"Tomo-chan!"_

_Did she really need to point it out to the whole world?_

Completely unabashed, Tomo-chan turned to look at me and accused, "This is important Ryoma-sama fan club information! Why didn't you tell me you were so close with Ryoma-sama?"

My eyes widened in surprise at her tone,  _"What?"_

I shot another glare at Ryoma-kun and kicked his chair more forcefully. Trying somehow to force him through mind control to back me up on this to Tomo-chan, that there was  _NOTHING._  His only response was to give me an innocent look like he hadn't just purposely opened up a huge can of worms on my head.

_I hate him. I really, really hate him sometimes._

Tomo-chan gave the two of us an assessing look, "So are you guys dating now or what?"

_"Tomoka!"_  I exclaimed in complete shock and horror. I couldn't believe she would ask such a thing. Of course we weren't dating, and Tomo-chan knew she would be the first to know if we were. Though, of course, after everything he's done to me, I wouldn't really date him anyways _...I think..._

Tomo-chan looked at me again, her eyes dancing with mirth.

_Traitor._

"Of-of course not!" I exclaimed. Oh...ohh...I desperately needed to get out of there. My heart was racing so fast I felt like I couldn't breathe. I didn't know what was worse, Ryoma-kun hearing my best friend asking if we were dating, or Ryoma-kun's fan club believing that we were dating. I had no idea why Ryoma-kun would even call me by my given name in front of other people when he was so good at ignoring my existence after kissing me. I mean honestly, most of the time the guy acted like we weren't even friends, so why would he decide to start calling me by my name publicly?

_What was he playing at?_

I glanced over at him to try to see what he was thinking and was met with a probing stare. My heart constricted and slammed against my chest forcefully. It was so acute I almost cried out in pain.

_What...what did that look mean?_

"Tomo-chan..." I started while still in a bit of a panic. My heart was racing so fast I could hear it pounding in my ears, "Ah, you see, Ryoma-kun is just making fun of me."

Tomo-chan gave me a puzzled look, "Why would you say that?"

"Sakuno thinks I bully her all the time," Ryoma-kun chimed in with his trademark smirk.

_"Because you do!"_ I quickly added.

Ryoma-kun shrugged while Tomo-chan looked back and forth between the two of us for a second, "I don't understand."

"So tell me more about this game with the prince," Ryoma-kun said.

I flushed again as Tomo-chan started laughing, "Yes, tell him about it, Sakuno."

I resisted the urge to slam my head into the desk and wish for death to come quickly.

Doing my best imitation of my...NOT my boyfriend, I gave a sigh indicating boredom with the subject and shrugged, "I don't really play those games, but this one was really popular, so I decided to play it."

"Hn."

"The prince reminds Sakuno of the guy she likes!" Tomo-chan added.

I kicked her chair again.  _How dare she tease me like this in front of Ryoma-kun?_ _  
_  
 _"He does NOT!"_

Ryoma-kun shot me a knowing smirk indicating he thought he knew who I liked and that I liked him.

_Jerk._

Ryoma-kun raised an eyebrow, "Hmmm." He looked at Tomo-chan, "So who does she like?"

_"Nobody!"_ I exclaimed hotly before Tomo-chan could answer.

"Don't lie Sakuno, you like that guy on the tennis team!" Tomo-chan rebutted.

_WHAT THE!_

I was going to  _kill_ my best friend after school today,  _if_ we survived lunch that is.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said quickly as I stuffed one of my baby carrots from my lunch box in my mouth. I was blushing so hard at that point, I felt like I was going to die.

"You know, that guy that ate your omusubi at the Nationals?"

Wow! I was  _not_  expecting that! I choked on my carrot for a second before I asked in disbelief,  _"Toyama Kintaro-kun?"_

"Yes! That's his name," Tomo-chan looked from me to Ryoma-kun and said, "Yup. Sakuno likes Kintaro-san."

Ryoma-kun gave me a strange look.

_"I do not!"_

Tomo-chan gave me a fake look of surprise, "But  _you said_ you liked him!"

"I never said such a thing.  _Stop making stuff up for Ryoma-kun!"_

"But Sakunooooo, you said it was so sweet when he ate your food and that he was so cool when he was playing tennis, didn't you say that?"

I paused for a moment and thought about the Nationals last year recalling the redheaded boy our age that had sought out Ryoma-kun as a rival. I took a bite of another carrot and chewed it for a moment before I admitted, "He  _was_ really good, and it was nice that he ate the food I made even after I dropped it on the ground."

Ryoma-kun reached across the desk then, and snagged a sausage from my bento as he scoffed, "There's no way you  _like_ him."

I gave Ryoma-kun a surprised look at his statement as I grabbed a celery stick and munched on it.

That was weird that he would say that. Even if we'd been kissing, it didn't mean I liked  _him._  Not like he would care anyways since he definitely didn't like  _me_. That much, I had figured out by then. The kissing? It didn't mean he  _liked_ me, it was just another way he bullied me. You see, it's like this... Ryoma-kun just wants someone to make out with and he knows I won't say anything. He doesn't want a girlfriend. So I've become his...play...thing? Ugh...just thinking about our messed up relationship makes me want to throw up. It's soooo degrading because I just...let him...because  _I do_  like him.  _He can't know about it though._

_Then I would really be in trouble._

Swallowing the celery bite I added, "Well, I don't really know Kintaro-kun, so I don't know if I would  _like_ him."

Ryoma-kun reached across my desk again to grab another sausage as he said lowly, "You don't like him."

"Didn't you bring your own lunch?" I asked irritably.

Honestly, I was pissed off at both of them. I didn't know who I was more angry with either. I never would have expected Tomo-chan to tease me like that in front of Ryoma-kun, but...she didn't know...

Ryoma-kun on the other hand...

"You didn't make me lunch today," Ryoma-kun fired back.

_Say what?_

It was Monday, so it wasn't like it was Friday and he'd guilted me into making him lunch yesterday because there was a tournament this weekend.

I gave him an accusing look as I said, "Ryoma-kun. It's Monday."

He shrugged as he grabbed a couple of carrots.

"I only make you lunches on the Fridays of tournament weekends."

"EH?" Tomo-chan jumped in yet again. "I didn't know you did that!"

"He forces me," I explained distractedly, still waiting for Ryoma-kun to explain himself.

Ryoma-kun scooted closer to me and leaned over so we were really close before he said, "I want bento everyday."

I pushed at his shoulder to get him away from me, "No."

"Wow! You two are so close this year!" Tomo-chan interrupted.

I shot her a surprised look.  _This was close?!_  Was she blind to his bullying, just like everybody else? Well...of course she was. Ryoma-kun has the whole world fooled. I'm the only one that really knows... __  
  
"You need to take care of me," Ryoma-kun insisted.

I moved my head back to him and gave him a puzzled look.  _What...what...what?_

Tomo-chan started squealing with excitement over the whole conversation. I thought I would die of embarrassment, but I was still determined he wouldn't get his way this time. So I grabbed my egg out of my lunch and cracked the shell against my desk.

"Ryoma-kun," I warned as I distracted myself with peeling the shell off of my hard boiled egg.

"It's practice," He quipped.

My head shot up so fast I probably hurt my neck, "What?"

Ryoma-kun grinned. He knew he had me. Tomo-chan had become surprisingly quiet, taking it all in and I shot her a nervous look.

_He better not..._

"You know, for when we're mar-"

Oh...oh... _wow._ I'd just shot out of my chair and slapped both hands over Ryoma-kun's mouth before I'd even thought about it. His eyes danced up at me with amusement. It was that look he'd get when he knew he was making me mad by teasing me and oh, I was soooo mad.

"Don't." I gave him my scariest death glare ever.  _"Don't you ever say that to me again."_

Tomo-chan grabbed onto my shoulder then, and peered over it to look at us. I looked back at her as she asked, "Don't ever say what?"

Thankfully, I never did answer that question, because the warning bell signaling the end of lunch rang and Tomo-chan had to leave to go back to her class.

Ryoma-kun on the other hand, I was still stuck with, and he wasn't done with me yet, apparently.


	7. Chapter Seven

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Seven

* * *

Afternoon classes went surprisingly quick that day, but it was probably because I wasn't paying attention at all. At least we hadn't had any more assignments where we had to work in pairs. I don't think I could have handled another session of being forced into company with Ryoma-kun.

Unfortunately for me, I hadn't yet experienced the full brunt of the impact of Ryoma-kun calling me by my given name with no honorific instead of my family name at school.

After classes ended, I'd raced out of the classroom, fully intending to skip out on tennis practice and rush home. Unfortunately, in my haste, I'd bumped right into a group of my senpai. Female senpai...that is...well, the worst of it was they were part of 'The Ryoma-sama Fan Club' and well...

_They'd heard..._

"Oh, Ryuzaki-kohai! Just who I wanted to speak with."

Startled at that announcement from one of the girls I'd bumped into, I looked up from the floor where I was hastily gathering up my fallen possessions.

"Eh? Me?" I asked. Nobody really had much of an interest in me. Especially not senpai, and especially not girls. If anything, I was sought out by tennis team members. These girls were  _not_ any of them.

"Mmmmnnhmmm," one of the other girls chimed in while she crossed her arms over her chest and gave me an accusatory look.

I blinked. Who were these girls and what had I ever done to them? My mind raced, but I couldn't come up with anything. As far as I knew I had no enemies...well,  _except maybe Ryoma-kun._

"We hear that Ryoma-sama is calling you by your given name," The third girl explained. (At least she didn't sound like she wanted to kill me like the other two had.)

Ah...right.  _I should have known this was coming..._

I gave her a sheepish smile, unsure what to say, "Ah..."

I didn't know what to say. Really. I mean, the whole class had apparently heard it, and then he'd persisted on it when Tomo-chan had been there, so he was definitely intentionally doing it. He didn't seem to act like he was going to go back to calling me Ryuzaki. He must have known something like this would happen, right? Irritated at that thought, I'd cursed the tennis prince in my head. This whole familiarity act of his was yet another addition to his hobby he had of bullying me.

_I should have yelled at him and told him not to address me so familiarly, shouldn't I?_

"So what's your relationship with him?" The first girl demanded.

I grabbed the last of my books and wobbled my way back to standing on my feet. Taking a hesitant step back, I wondered what I should say or do. It was one thing to yell at Tomo-chan, but it was another thing when three senpai I didn't know were giving me a hard time. I was thinking about simply running away when...

"Oi! Sakuno!"

Recognizing his voice instantly, I looked up at my name being called and sure enough, it was Ryoma-kun himself approaching.  _Not to mention he's the only boy that calls me by my given name with no honorific attached to it._ My eyes widened as I watched him walk over to us.

_Great. What's he going to think?_

This was definitely going to give him one more thing to torment me over.

The senpai-tachi all flushed and began to quickly primp their hair as Ryoma-kun continued to approach. As soon as he was within non-yelling distance, they all greeted him similarly to how Tomo-chan generally would. Tomo-chan never bothered me, but the way these girls acted...it made me sick.  _I actually felt a little bit sorry for Ryoma-kun._

"Hi Ryoma-sama!" They chorused.

Ryoma-kun barely gave the senpai-tachi a glance as he paused to yank on one of my braids and began pulling me behind him with it.

"Ryoma-kun! I told you not to pull on my hair!" I immediately protested.

He ignored my protest and continued to drag me down the hallway while I attempted to save my poor hair and scrambled to keep up with him. It was pretty awkward at the angle he was yanking on my braid from, so I kind-of felt like I was being dragged backwards and sideways all at once.

After we were a slight distance away from the senpai-tachi, he stopped and turned back to them, my braid still firmly grasped in his hand.

"Oh, senpai-tachi..." He said.

The girls all batted their eyelashes at him and simpered.  _I wanted to gag...if they only knew what a bully he was..._

"Only I get to bully this girl, do you understand?"

I felt my jaw drop in mortification as the older girls gave Ryoma-kun put-out looks.  _Did he really just say...that?_

Recovering from my shock, I tried to yank my braid from his hand again as I said low enough so that only he could hear, "Ryoma-kun, stop causing problems for me."

He gave me a blank look for a moment before he tugged on my braid to pull me forward again. At least this time he kept it slack so it didn't really hurt, it was just  _immensely_  embarrassing. I mean really, what self-respecting girl gets dragged around by her hair by a guy?

_I'm so pathetic._

After we arrived at the shoe lockers he finally let go of my braid. Amidst the general bustle of the area of our schoolmates changing their shoes and making their plans for the afternoon, Ryoma-kun leaned against the locker next to mine. I ignored him and grabbed for my shoes.

"Be careful around the girls," He warned.

I blushed again...why did he have to make me blush so much today?  _I thought I was over this!_

I flicked my eyes towards his face for a moment and noticed his grim expression before I said, "Ryoma-kun started it."

"It's better for them to get used to it now."

_What's better for whom? Get used to what?_ What in the world was that supposed to mean?

"It would be better if you just call me Ryuzaki like always," I muttered to him as I slipped my shoes on and stuffed my school slippers back into my locker.

He stared hard at me then, and I started feeling insanely uncomfortable at his look.

"Is that what you want?" He finally asked.

I gave a huff of frustration, and slammed my shoe locker closed with as much force as my little body was capable of, "As if Ryoma-kun ever does what I want!"

He quickly closed the distance between our heads, and I instinctively moved my head back a few inches away from him.  _He wasn't going to kiss me at school, was he?_

After jerking my head away abruptly in a bit of a panic, and him not pursuing me closer, I hesitantly met his eyes with my own.

He asked lowly, "What do you want?"

I was still only a few inches from his face and I barely heard him.

"I..."

"EEEEK! Sakuno! What are you doing with Ryoma-sama?" Tomo-chan yelled.

We both jerked apart and glanced in the direction Tomo-chan had yelled at us from.

"Tomo-chan!" I protested.

She bounced over to us and said, "So are you fighting, or were you going to start kissing?" She raised her eyebrows suggestively as she asked the latter part.

I wanted to bury myself in a hole in the ground.  _My best friend totally did not just ask my crush turned bully if we were going to start kissing at school._

"We're always fighting," I said at the same time Ryoma-kun said, "We never fight."

Tomo-chan raised her eyebrows again showing her interest in the subject.

"This is stupid!" I exclaimed before I pushed between them and ran away. There was no way I was going to spend more time with the two of them after what they did to me during lunch!

I raced all the way out of the school, and thankfully neither of them followed me. Maybe it was because about a block out of the school gates I realized I didn't take the route home and I had no idea where I was. That was probably the case at least with Tomo-chan since she's always great about making sure I'm okay when she knows I'm upset about something. With Ryoma-kun, I just never know what to expect besides some old or new form of bullying. I'd given him plenty of new things to bully me about that day though, so it wouldn't have surprised me if he'd followed me simply to torment me as he walked me home.

Instead, I just got lost, so I was alone, and that was exactly what I wanted. It gave me some time to myself, something I'd been feeling lacking on lately. I ruminated over all the strange things that had happened that day at school and wondered how things would be from then on with Ryoma-kun calling me Sakuno in front of everybody...

Three hours later after it was already dark, I finally made it home. Thankfully Grandma had to work late that night, so she got home even later than I did and was therefore none the wiser that I'd gotten lost that afternoon. I still paid for the lost time staying up later to do my homework, and added to that was that I had to wake up earlier from now on to make Ryoma-kun lunch.

Yes...of course I started making him bento everyday. I'd never hear the end of it if I didn't. I knew Ryoma-kun well enough to know that.

He continued to usually call me Sakuno after that too, and for a while it got a lot of attention. Ryoma-kun didn't address anybody by their given name, not even his guy friends or his teammates on the tennis team. So naturally people kept asking if we were dating, but since we were never seen doing anything romantic and we were never seen outside of school together going on dates or anything, eventually everybody just kind-of dropped it. Even Momo-senpai, whom besides Tomo-chan had been the nosiest of all.

All I know is that while he didn't ignore me after that second make out session in 2nd year, he had been consistent about acting like nothing had happened. Sure, he bullied me by making me think he would say something, but he never actually said anything to anybody. When people asked Ryoma-kun if we were dating, he started making fun of them or just ignored them. When they asked me, I was usually interrupted by Ryoma-kun since he seemed to have developed some sort of radar for when I was being questioned about our relationship. The few times I was asked that he hadn't interfered, I had always lamely said something about how our families were old friends and Ryoma-kun and I were just friends.

Friends... _ha_. That wasn't the truth either. It was more like master and slave. Not like I could say something like that to anybody; they'd never understand because they weren't me or Ryoma-kun.  _Only the two of us really knew how it was between the two of us._

In a nutshell...it's complicated.

From that point forward though, things stayed about the same for the next two years. I made him lunches everyday, we always worked together for school assignments that required a partner, he told me how much my tennis sucked on an almost daily basis, and every once in awhile, he'd morph into this guy that acted like he liked me, and that kissed me and then usually right after kissing, there would be this spell afterwards where he just ignored me and reverted back to calling me Ryuzaki, if anything.

Well, there was one other thing that technically started that year, but it's been happening a lot more recently lately. I'm not really sure what to make of it. At first, I was always grateful, but now...

Okay, so the first time it had happened had actually been at training camp. Just like our first year of middle school, the whole tennis team had been packed up to go away to a training camp in the mountains for a few days before the Nationals. Since I was the coach's granddaughter, just like in first year, I'd been automatically volunteered to tag along to help out with taking care of things like food while the boys were training during the day.

Unlike first year though, Ryoma-kun had been in a really bad mood the whole trip. I wasn't exactly expecting him to show up to the camp with smiles, it was rare for him to be that outwardly happy, but the slight scowl he'd had on his face had been my first tip that he was peeved over something. I don't think anybody else really picked up on it though, Ryoma-kun was hard to read, and it's been my experience that usually I'm the only person that has a clue what's really going on with him. Most of the time though, I still feel like I don't have a clue what's going on with him. He's just one of those kind of guys, I guess.

It hadn't been until the second afternoon that I'd discovered what had him so ticked off.

I'd been making my way between the supply shed and the kitchen in preparation of the big dinner we'd all have that night, same as I did most afternoons at camp. Ryoma-kun and the rest of the tennis regulars were out on the mountain working themselves to death to improve their endurance, strength and balance amongst other things. I, on the other hand, was sent to the supply shed to grab another sack of rice.

Opening up the shed door, a dark figure inside quickly turned my way, and I was so startled to see anybody there, I'd screamed.

My scream was quickly silenced by a hand over my mouth, and as my eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the shed I'd started to make out the features of the other person in the cabin with me.

He was smirking down at me and he had dark greenish black hair, and brown eyes. Wait...something wasn't right...

"Don't scream again," He commanded before he removed his hand from my mouth.

I tried to take a step back from him, but he had me wrapped up against him with his other arm around my back. Confused, I tried to ask, "Wha- Whe- Y-you..."

"Ohhh?" He said looking suddenly more interested in me. He muttered something under his breath in English.

_What the!?_

It was too much. It couldn't just be coincidence at this point, right? Feeling scared and yet somehow protective, I grabbed onto a bit of the front of his shirt and demanded, "Who are you?"

He stopped muttering under his breath for a moment and smirked down at me again. Moving his face close to mine, I tried to move away, but he only got closer, "So,  _kitten._ Tell me how well you know my little brother."

My jaw dropped in shock.  _He couldn't really mean?_

Could he? I felt my cheeks reddening as I blinked up at the slightly taller boy that looked so similar to my daily tormentor.

But...but... _Ryoma-kun had never said anything about having an older brother!_

He brushed his cheek against mine as he said again, "Tell me..."

Pulling away slightly, he pinched my cheek with the hand that wasn't wrapped around my back and asked, "Is it like...this?"

Furious, I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what I thought when he suddenly released my cheek and closed the distance between our faces, whispering against my lips, "Or more like this." As I felt the faintest first brush of his lips against my own, the shed door burst open with a loud bang.

The older boy that looked almost exactly like an older version of Ryoma-kun quickly pulled away from me as a tennis ball zoomed between our faces, exactly where his face had been a second ago.

I turned my head towards the door and easily identified Ryoma-kun's silhouette. The sun was streaming behind him from the doorway, and I was pretty sure I could see his trademark red racquet pointed in our direction.

_I'd never been so happy to see him._

"Let go...of Sakuno."

Paying Ryoma-kun no mind, the older boy grinned down at me, "Ah, so it is...more like... _that."_

I gave him my best death glare. It really isn't... _like that_...that is...ugh. As I was working up a complete outburst in my head, Ryoma-kun marched the few feet from the door to where we were standing and yanked on my arm, successfully pulling me out of the hold of the older boy.

"Are you worried your girlfriend is going to like your older brother more... _Chibisuke?"_  The older boy taunted as he pulled an orange out of his pocket and tossed it a few inches into the air and then caught it effortlessly, as if he tossed oranges in his hand all the time.

Ryoma-kun got a bored look on his face, "Leave Coach Ryuzaki's granddaughter alone."

"Ryuzaki?" The older boy quirked an eyebrow at me, and I gave a slight nod to confirm that Ryoma-kun was indeed talking about my grandmother.

He smirked at me knowingly before he quickly caressed my right cheek while saying, "Allow me to introduce myself since my little brother has failed to do so. I'm Echizen Ryoga. As you know, our families are old friends, Ryuzaki Sakuno-chan."

I blinked up at him in shock as my mind whirled with this new information. After an awkward pause, I gathered my wits enough to give a slight bow and stammered out, "A-ah, nice to meet you...ah..." I faltered for a moment, unsure how to appropriately address him.

He gave me a very sexy wicked grin and said, "Please...call me Ryoga."

Oh...my...he really did look a lot like Ryoma-kun, and I couldn't help but be slightly charmed by his grin, even though he was probably even worse than Ryoma-kun when it came to relationships with girls. I could just feel it with that sly look he was giving me, oh and the fact that he tried to kiss me within about a minute or so of first seeing me!  _BOYS_...or should I adjust that to simply... _Echizen boys!_

Ryoma-kun tugged on my hand then, regaining my attention and making me realize he'd been holding my hand, "Ryoga is here to help us with our training." He paused for a moment before he got an irritated look on his face and added, "I don't know why, I can already beat him."

At Ryoma-kun's typical and predictable arrogance, I couldn't help but let out a giggle. Covering my mouth with my free hand, I tried to suppress my laughter before Ryoma-kun got irritated with me for laughing at him in front of his older brother.  _Since he was obviously the source of Ryoma-kun's unhappiness at the camp._

Ryoga-nii-san leaned over Ryoma-kun and mussed up his hair before he took a bite out of his orange he'd been holding, skin and all, and said, "Mada mada daze, Chibisuke."

I laughed outright at the slightly altered version of Ryoma-kun's catch phrase while Ryoga-nii-san grinned mischievously at me and Ryoma-kun gave me a put out look.

Ryoga-nii-san tossed his orange into the air again and caught it quickly, causing it to make a loud snapping sound, "Well kids, it's been fun. Sakuno-chan, see you at dinner. Chibisuke, let's get back to practice."

Ryoma-kun looked away as Ryoga-nii-san gave a shrug and left the building. After the door closed behind Ryoga-nii-san, Ryoma-kun kept our hands locked and faced me, "Where's my lunch?"

_Unbelievable._

Well, you'd think it was unbelievable after the conversation we'd just had that he'd be demanding food from me now, but see...in case you haven't noticed yet, Ryoma-kun likes to bully me. Well established fact at this point, right? So...I just ignored his comment and tried to hide my irritation that he'd still been expecting a lunch from me even at training camp and got immediately into the more important matter at hand, that is, "You never told me you had a brother."

Ryoma-kun scoffed disapprovingly, "He's not really my brother, my old man adopted him."

Of course, you know, at this point my jaw dropped in shock because well...Echizen Ryoga  _really did_  look like Ryoma-kun. How could he have been adopted?

Ryoma-kun gave a disinterested shrug in the subject and muttered something about really being his cousin.

Oh...so then how did?

"I don't know more than that, and I don't really remember him, he left a long time ago."

Ah, gotcha...sore subject for Ryoma-kun. Hmm...unable to help it, I started wondering if this new information would be something I could somehow use to my advantage to get Ryoma-kun to stop bullying me so much, but I kind-of doubted it, still, maybe...

"My lunch?" Ryoma-kun asked again. I watched as he kept his head still and his eyes shifted away from me to look over to the side.

What was he looking at?

His gaze rested back on me, and as I debated on whining to him or yelling at him, or my usual reaction which was just sucking up his bullying and doing what he wanted me to do, his gaze shifted around again.

What in the...?

Keeping his gaze locked somewhere off to the side he absentmindedly rubbed his fingers against the top of my knuckles on the hand he was holding as he whispered, "Someone is watching us."

OH. Right. Of course. It was probably Momo-senpai, who'd never really given up on his pastime of spying on us. My biggest fear was that one day, he would catch us on one of the days when Ryoma-kun was acting like less of a bully and more like a boyfriend.  _Then my world would just end._  It was bad enough being bullied, but it would be even worse if Momo-senpai, (whom everybody would believe) spread around something like how we were really together and then Ryoma-kun did another bout of ignoring me, or acting like nothing had happened. Not being acknowledged by Ryoma-kun as something more than friends, or even as friends sometimes was one thing, but it would be an entirely different issue if the whole world knew he wasn't acknowledging me.

It would make the heartbreak all the more real.

It would be social murder.

It would be... _something I could never recover from..._

So it was really best if  _everybody_ thought we were friends and only Ryoma-kun and I knew the truth.

That he's a big bully and that the reason he bullies me is because he knows he'll get what he wants and he'll get away with it...

...since I could never tell.

I mean really...even if I did...who would believe me when he's always ignoring me anytime after he kisses me? And then would come... _yeah..._

So we stood there facing each other awkwardly in the supply shed, Ryoma-kun's eyes suspiciously following shadows or something or other while I stood there pretending along with him that we weren't aware we were being spied on.

If someone was watching us...why hadn't he dropped my hand like it was a hot potato yet? Suddenly feeling annoyed over everything, I tugged my hand out of his.

His gaze quickly slid back to looking at me. I ignored him as I resumed my original mission for the supply shed and bent down to pick up the large sack of rice I was supposed to have delivered back to the kitchen probably fifteen minutes ago.

"Have a good practice with Ryoga-nii-san," I commented to the tennis prince as I turned to leave the shed.

Ryoma-kun made a sound of general disapproval, but he sped around me and held the shed's door open for me.

"Thanks, Ryoma-kun," I said as I walked out of the door.

"Tomorrow."

I stopped and turned back to Ryoma-kun, "Eh?"

"Tomorrow, I want my bento," He stated as he stood there by the closed shed door, his newer red racquet in one hand, the other hand stuffed in his pocket.

I gave him an irritated look, shook my head no and turned to walk away.

"I mean it, Ryuzaki."

He didn't even raise his voice, even though I was walking away, it was like he knew I had super hearing when it came to his voice and that I'd still hear him.

I ignored him and continued to walk away.

Why was he calling me Ryuzaki? Was it because he thought Momo-senpai was spying or were there some people at the camp he didn't want thinking he called me by my given name these days? Or was he just mad about lunch? It's not like he'd just kissed me or something.

I just never really knew with Ryoma-kun.


	8. Chapter Eight

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Eight

* * *

Dinner that evening with the whole tennis team, Grandma, Tomo-chan and the others that had arrived to help out, and Ryoma-kun's cousin or brother or whatever was interesting to say the least.

Momo-senpai and Ryoga-nii-san had immediately become fast friends and they seemed to have taken it upon themselves to tease Ryoma-kun. First, they'd given him a hard time about his height, though I didn't really understand why. Sure, Ryoma-kun wasn't as tall as Momo-senpai and Kaidoh-senpai yet, but he was at least half a head taller than he'd been in first year. Next, they'd started making fun of how cocky he was, then how close he was with his cat, how much he drank ponta and then finally they started to tease him about girls.

It had started out simply enough with comments about how Ryoma-kun was "clueless" and "dense" and would "never get a girlfriend" from Momo-senpai, but unlike the general agreement comments Momo-senpai would usually receive when talking about Ryoma-kun's girl interest faults, Ryoga-nii-san changed things up.

Shaking his head back and forth vigorously, Ryoga-nii-san said loudly enough for the whole room to hear, "Chibisuke definitely at the very least likes a girl. I saw it with my own eyes!"

All other conversation in the room stopped, as everybody turned to look at Ryoga-nii-san who was giving Ryoma-kun a knowing smirk.

Ryoma-kun for his part had a slight flush on his cheeks, and with a frown he muttered something into his plate in English.

Nobody seemed to understand what Ryoma-kun said except Ryoga-nii-san, who burst into laughter and then looked my way, locking eyes with me.

I flushed red with embarrassment.  _What was he looking at me for?_  Was Ryoga-nii-san trying to say Ryoma-kun liked me? I honestly thought he had to be referring to someone else, I mean, Ryoma-kun definitely didn't  _like_ me. He just liked to bully me and tease me and take advantage of me.

I scowled and stood up from my seat at the table. I leaned over and began gathering up the empty plates from everybody to take into the kitchen for washing. Everybody continued to watch me work in silence and I got more and more embarrassed and self conscious with each passing second.

Finally, I was at Ryoga-nii-san's place and as I stopped to collect his plate, he grabbed the stack of plates from my hands and placed them on the table.

"Hey!" I protested as Ryoga-nii-san grabbed my arm and yanked me to sitting on his lap.

I let out an undignified screech, "Ryoga-nii-san, what are you doing?"

Nuzzling his face into the side of my neck he said, "Shh. I'm making Chibisuke jealous."

"That's not possible!" I protested back quickly as Ryoga-nii-san glanced Ryoma-kun's way and taunted him.

"Chibisuke! Did you notice? Sakuno-chan sure does like me! What do you think? Don't we make a cute couple?"

Ryoma-kun flashed a dark look our way before he stood up from the table and left the room.

I pushed against Ryoga-nii-san as he pulled me closer, "Just play along."

"No."

As I tried to push away enough to get a foothold on the ground, Grandma stormed into the room.

"Ryoga! Let go of Sakuno at once!"

I was suddenly placed back on my feet. I wobbled a bit, and Ryoga-nii-san offered a steadying hand from behind me. I would have been grateful, if I hadn't felt completely manhandled by him in the first place.

"It's fine Grandma, Ryoga-nii-san was just playing around," I grumbled as I grabbed the dirty stack of dishes off of the table and made my way into the kitchen with them.

Depositing the stack of dishes on the counter next to the sink I let out a big huff of irritation and berated myself for my hurt feelings that were welling up inside of me.

Turning on the water at the sink to begin heating up so I could wash the dishes, I rolled my eyes heavenward to stop the traitorous tears threatening to water up out of my eyes. I was absolutely _NOT_  going to get upset about Ryoma-kun again.

It's not like I didn't already know that Ryoma-kun didn't care about me, but it still hurt every time something like this happened. If Ryoga-nii-san wanted to tease Ryoma-kun I was more than okay with that. In fact, it was exactly what Ryoma-kun deserved as far as I was concerned...

It was just...why couldn't he leave me out of it?

* * *

That night I laid on my futon staring up at the dark ceiling wishing to myself that things were different. Why couldn't I just be friends with Ryoma-kun? Like  _really_  friends? Or if he did want to do things like kissing, why couldn't he at least like me for real? Why couldn't we just be together?

What was going on with Ryoga-nii-san? Why was he insisting on getting me involved in teasing Ryoma-kun? Did Ryoga-nii-san really like me, or was he just bullying me also? If he did like me...

Well...he was pretty cute, just like Ryoma-kun. I wonder if he's good at tennis also...well...probably...

Didn't Ryoma-kun say he was there to help out with training?

I rolled over to my side and stared at the closed door through the darkness of my room and watched the dim hall light as it danced in the shadows of the darkness under the edge of the door. Tomo-chan's light snoring paused for a moment as she giggled. I envied her for being able to sleep and for whatever funny dream she was having.

If I could just forget about Ryoma-kun and Ryoga-nii-san and this camp. If I could just forget about if I was really going to get up early to make that spoiled prince a bento or not. If I could just somehow put it all away from myself and sleep...

My eyes widened as the door slid open a crack and the dim hallway light streamed into the room. A second later, Ryoma-kun's head appeared in the crack in the door. His eyes instantly locked onto my deer-in-the-headlights look from the soft light pouring on my face from the hall. Distressed on what in the world he was doing in my room I quickly slithered out from under my covers and crawled over to the door.

"Ryoma-kun?" I whispered.

Without an answer, his arm shot into the room and started pulling me through the doorway. I quickly resisted, pulling back.  _What was he doing?_  He couldn't pull me into the hallway like this in the middle of the night when all I was wearing were my pajamas and no bathrobe! The whole tennis team was out there somewhere, not to mention Ryoga-nii-san who I was willing to bet would go out of his way to embarrass me some more the next time I saw him!

After a bit of a struggle, I found myself in the hall with Ryoma-kun. I couldn't help it, he was stronger and bigger than me. I gave him a glare of outrage, but he ignored my look and closing the door behind me, he started pulling me down the hallway, his grip never once letting up.

"Ryoma-kun, what are you doing?" I whispered furiously.

He shot me a dark look over his shoulder and continued forward, if anything, he picked up the pace at my question.

After going down some stairs, and then turning a couple of corners, we stopped in front of a door that Ryoma-kun slid open. Pushing me through the doorway, he followed right behind me and closed the door behind him.

I took in the shelves filled with blankets and pillows surrounding me and the softness at my feet and let out a gasp of surprise. Looking down I took in the made up bed on the floor I was stepping on that filled up the small...wait a minute...were we in the linen closet?

I turned around to look at Ryoma-kun ready to demand answers, but instead he just gave me a brief smirk before we were kissing. Within moments, we were on the floor, laying on the made up bed in the small portion of the closet's open floor space.

_How does this always happen to me?_

"R-Ry-Ryo-" I tried to get his attention as he continued to try to kiss my conversation away (as usual), but I wasn't having it this time and I persisted. Finally, he gave up on silencing me and asked irritably, "What?

"What is this? What are we doing here? Why did you come and get me?" I asked.

He gave me a bored stare. You know, the one he gives me when he thinks I'm dumber than dirt? That stare. Then he said what always followed such a stare, "What do you think?"

What did I think?  _What DID I THINK?_  I thought that I was losing more sleep! I thought that after walking out of the room today when Ryoga-nii-san had pulled me into his lap and had tried to almost kiss me for the second time that day that Ryoma-kun didn't want anything to do with me. I...I...

I crossed my arms and huffed at him as I threw myself back against the pillow at the head of our makeshift bed, "I think Ryoma-kun is kidnapping me again."

The corner of his mouth quirked up at that.

"Ryoma-kun always does this," I complained as his smirk widened.

"Don't smirk at me, you spoiled tennis prince!"

He put his hand over his mouth for a second, and I could tell he was laughing at me again. I rolled my eyes as he leaned over and kissed the corner of my mouth softly, "Ne...you complain too much."

"Ryoga-nii-san tried to kiss me again," I added.

Ryoma-kun shrugged, "Stay away from him."

That was it, huh? Wow, I really wanted to slap that smirk off of his face now. I couldn't believe he was being so...so...

"Should I stay away from Ryoma-kun too?" I asked.

He leaned over me again and thumped his forehead into mine, "Sakuno. Don't be stupid."

"Wha-"

Of course, as usual, before I could get to the bottom of the discussion, he was kissing me again. We spent the whole night there in the closet, kissing like we had at his house, at my house, whenever we would sleep together. It was different, being there at camp, knowing somewhere out there we had sleeping senpai-tachi, classmates, and kohai-tachi that would die if they found out what we were doing in the linen closet. Still, we were together in our own little world, away from everybody else...

I was really starting to feel like there were two worlds and two of each of us. Who were these people that we were when we were alone together? These people that did these things, and cuddled up all night, and woke up in the morning with kisses and...

Morning at camp came all too quickly. Ryoma-kun's cell phone started vibrating underneath our pillow at some zero-o'clock AM and all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. Well, after I located that damn phone and chucked it against some wall that would break it into a million pieces and keep it from vibrating against my head anymore.

Ryoma-kun and I each had an arm under the pillow fishing around for the damn thing as it continued to buzz under our heads. Finally, Ryoma-kun must have found it, because the vibrating under my head stopped. I smiled and tried to get back into my dream, but instead I woke up further as Ryoma-kun started petting my hair away from my face. Then he was nibbling on my neck like he had in the nurse's office at school, and I let out yet another contented sigh. After kissing me a few times until my eyes reluctantly opened up, he said, "Time to get up and make bento."

My contentment leaving immediately I scowled at him and said, "No bento today Ryoma-kun. I'm tired...you kept me up all night."

"Yada. I want bento."

I gave him a pout, "You are such a bully."

He smiled at that before he gave me a quick peck and said, "That's why you love me, Ryuzaki."

"No way!" I protested loudly as Ryoma-kun hefted me up from the floor.

"Shhh! Do you want to get caught sleeping in the closet with me?"

"I...no."

As I'd stood there dumbfounded by the conversation, he'd quickly stuffed the pillow onto a shelf, folded up the blanket and rolled up the futon, putting them all back on their respective shelves.

Taking my hand, he slid the door open and peeked out into the hallway for a second. Pulling me behind him, he stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind us. Turning back to me he leaned over and gave me another quick kiss before he pointed behind me and said, "That way to the kitchen. See you later."

Then...just like that...he was gone.


	9. Chapter Nine

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Nine

* * *

I did not make my way to the kitchen. Ryoma-kun was just crazy for even pointing it out to me. First of all, I was in my pajamas. At the very least, I needed to get back to my room I was sharing with Tomo-chan and change into some normal clothes. Secondly, I was pretty sure since it was zero o'clock AM that I could get some more sleep in before I actually needed to get up and make Ryoma-kun's beloved bento.

Arriving back at my room, I grabbed my cell phone out from under my pillow and checked the time noting that I could get in about an hour of sleep before I'd need to get up to start making breakfast for everybody. I flopped down onto my cold bed and drifted back into sleep.

That second day at camp was a bit easier than the first, but not without incident. The boys were training hard in the mountains again, and my assignment for the day was medical duty. So I spent a great deal of time running around the training grounds with a first aid kit, patching up scrapes, and treating other injuries. Tomo-chan was in charge of water that day, so she was constantly running back and forth from the lodge to get more water supplies and then handing out water and fresh towels to the boys.

Ryoga-nii-san seemed to be having the time of his life bossing around us middle schoolers, while inserting underhanded insults at the tennis team members between commands. Ryoma-kun for his part stayed mostly quiet like he usually did during practice, and doggedly followed commands, though a few times I noticed him scowling in Ryoga-nii-san's direction.

A couple of hours after lunch, I was cleaning up a particularly nasty scrape on Yoshimura-senpai's knee. As I blew air against the bubbling hydrogen peroxide to cool the stinging down, Momo-senpai called out across the way, "Ryuzaki-chan! Come over here quick, Echizen's hurt!"

Startled from my task, I whipped my head around in the direction Momo-senpai's voice was coming from. I took in Momo-senpai waving his arms at me in big arcs with a goofy grin on his face.

Why didn't he look worried? I tilted my head to the side in confusion as Momo-senpai noticed he had my attention and began to wave both arms off to the side. I followed the path his arms were swinging in, only to see Ryoma-kun standing to the side of one of the dirt courts, his red racquet resting on one shoulder, his other hand in his pocket, and a blank stare sent Momo-senpai's direction.

Ryoma-kun looked fine...?

Even more confused, I looked back towards Momo-senpai, waiting for further elaboration, which Momo-senpai was only too eager to share. He ran the small distance between himself and Ryoma-kun and thumped a hand against the center of Ryoma-kun's chest saying, "His heart is broken!"

At that, I slipped slightly to the side, and would have ended up in the dirt if Yoshimura-senpai hadn't grabbed under my arms from behind me, giving me the steadying I needed to keep from falling over. "What?" I called across the way to Momo-senpai.

"Echizen is heartbroken because Ryuzaki-chan is taking care of other boys today!" Momo-senpai shouted gleefully.

_Oh for the love of!_

Rolling my eyes, I turned back around to Yoshimura-senpai and quickly slapped some antibiotic ointment and a bandage over the cleaned scrape, "How does it feel?"

Yoshimura-senpai bent his knee back and forth a couple of times and then gave me a grateful smile as he stood up, "Thanks Sakuno-chan, I feels much better now!"

"Don't call her Sakuno-chan."

I looked up in surprise at the darkly stated comment that had come from above my crouched position and wondered what in the world Momo-senpai's problem was. He just didn't really talk that way.

"Only Echizen gets to call his girlfriend by her name!" He added more lightly with a teasing grin.

I groaned with embarrased irritation as I stood up. You would think after almost two full years of it, I'd have been used to the teasing from Momo-senpai about Ryoma-kun, but really...it was just old...besides, everybody knew Ryoma-kun wasn't interested in anything besides tennis. Of course, that year it wasn't quite as bad as first year since Eiji-senpai was in high school, thus removing a bit of the fuel from the fire, but Momo-senpai still took it upon himself to tease Ryoma-kun at every opportunity he could find.

"Momo-senpai, lots of people call me by my name."

Momo-senpai gave me a look of shock and horror, "Lots of  _boys_ do?"

I gave him a shrug.

Momo-senpai wrapped an arm over my shoulders and spoke lower, as if he was bestowing upon me some great secret of the universe, "Ryuzaki-chan, you can't let just anybody address you with such familiarity."

I gave Momo-senpai a solemn nod, and then turning out from under his arm, I spun right into Ryoma-kun.

"Oh! Ryoma-kun!" I exclaimed in surprise.  _When did he get over here?_

"What are you talking about with Momo-senpai?" He asked.

I crossed my arms over my chest and said with some authority to my voice, "Momo-senpai says you can't call me Sakuno anymore."

Ryoma-kun took a step back, his surprise clearly evident on his face.  _That_ was unusual...

"I didn't say that!" Momo-senpai added quickly.

"Oh? But didn't you just say I can't let boys address me with such familiarity?" I asked Momo-senpai.

Momo-senpai took two steps forward and stood between Ryoma-kun and I. Thwaping us both on the back with a bit of force, making us both stumble forward slightly towards each other he said, "You know I wasn't talking about Echizen!"

"Why not?" I asked.

Ryoma-kun was now shooting me his version of a warning look. It was a full-on no blinking, eyes locked on you until you understood type of look, and I was pretty sure I was the only person on the planet that knew that was Ryoma-kun's idea of a warning look, but I paid him no mind. After all,  _he was the one_  that was always acting like we didn't do things like kissing in private.

Momo-senpai was sputtering, trying desperately to come up with some kind of an excuse, as Ryoma-kun continued to give me his warning look and I tried desperately not to start laughing at the completely ridiculous conversation we were having.

Ryoga-nii-san jumped in then, and wrapping an arm around my shoulders, he squeezed my whole body as close to him as humanly possible and said, "That would be because we're old family friends, isn't that right, Sakuno-chan?"

I glanced to the side at Ryoga-nii-san, wondering for not the first time since meeting him exactly what his story was, and why he was so touchy feely with me. He was...really cute...and older...and...

"R-right," I found myself agreeing.

He nuzzled his nose into my neck, which earned a protesting squeak from me, and Ryoma-kun to change his warning look at me to a warning look headed Ryoga-nii-san's way. I fleetingly wondered if Ryoga-nii-san knew if he was getting Ryoma-kun's warning look or not.

"Ne...Sakuno-chan is so cute. After camp let's go out on a date, okay?"

"Huh?" I replied ever so eloquently while at the same time Ryoma-kun said, "She can't."

"Oh?" Ryoga-nii-san said as he pulled me closer still (not like there was really any distance, but I felt the squeeze) and rubbed his hand down my arm. I shivered in response.

He sure smelled good, especially considering they'd been out training all day.

Ryoma-kun grabbed my hand at the end of the arm Ryoga-nii-san had just rubbed down and yanked me out of Ryoga-nii-san's grasp, "I told you not to play with the Coach's granddaughter."

I yanked my hand out of Ryoma-kun's grasp and rubbed it with my other hand for a second as I shot both boys my own warning glare. Taking a step backwards from them, I bumped into Momo-senpai.

"Easy, Ryuzaki-chan," Momo-senpai said as he placed a steadying hand at the small of my back, keeping me from tripping over his big feet.

I'd forgotten he was there...oh my...I was surrounded.

"If you boys are done picking on me for the day...?"

The corner of Ryoma-kun's mouth lifted up slightly at my comment as he shoved his hand that he'd used to grab me away from Ryoga-nii-san back in his pocket.

Momo-senpai was sputtering again, something about how he would never pick on his coach's wonderful, cute little granddaughter.

Ryoga-nii-san was watching Ryoma-kun, who tapped his racquet against his shoulder and said to him, "What's next?"

Ryoga-nii-san smirked then, and I felt somehow that I had just been left out of some sort of secret communication between Ryoga-nii-san and Ryoma-kun.

I didn't like it.

Wasn't I the only one that...

* * *

That night proved to be rather similar to the first. A couple of hours after Tomo-chan had fallen asleep, Ryoma-kun was sliding open the door to our room. Prepared this time, I grabbed my cell phone out from under my pillow and met with Ryoma-kun in the hallway.

Part of me couldn't believe he was back. Even though it had been half a year or so since he'd first come back to Japan and started kissing me in his living room, there hadn't been a single time that he'd acted this way two full days in a row. In fact, the usual way it happened was kissing, no talking even in a friendly manner for about a week or so, renewed bullying, and then repeat. Somewhere in that cycle he usually broke my heart a little bit more...

Silently, we made our way back downstairs to our little linen closet, and just like the previous night, Ryoma-kun had already prepared a little bed for us on the floor. I was expecting him to pull me down to the floor and start kissing me like he had the night before, so I was surprised when instead he opened with, "Keep your distance from Ryoga."

_Hmmm...?_

"Ryoga-nii-san keeps coming near me, I'm not trying to get close to him."

Ryoma-kun shook his head and crossed his arms, "You make yourself an easy target."

No kidding? Is that why  _you_  always bully me, Ryoma-kun? Of course, I didn't say that, but I was still thinking it...

Instead, I lowered myself to the bed on the floor, and stretched out on my back, "I don't want to fight."

Ryoma-kun kneeled down next to me, "Are we fighting?"

I shrugged, not really sure what to say. I kind of felt like we were fighting, but with Ryoma-kun's general lack of emotions, it was hard to tell if he  _really_  cared or not. You would have to care to fight, right? Still,  _what_  was his problem with Ryoga-nii-san? Why had he told him I couldn't go on a date before I had a chance to reply for myself?

The truth was, I thought Ryoga-nii-san was cute, and interesting, but he was too old for me, and I had a feeling he liked to play with girls. I really wasn't interested in dating somebody like that, no matter how cute he was, or how good he was at tennis. Not to mention I could never date anybody Ryoma-kun was close too. Boyfriend or not, being with anybody that Ryoma-kun knew well would just be  _weird._

Of course, that's granting that I could find the heart to be with anybody besides Ryoma-kun. Bully or not, like me or not, kissed me previously and then ignored me or not, my heart was still completely wrapped around the cocky tennis prince.

"I don't  _like_  Ryoga-nii-san like  _that_ , so I wouldn't go out on a date with him anyway."

Ryoma-kun scoffed at that as he dropped down on the bed next to me, "He's trying to use you to make me mad."

I rolled my eyes, "Well,  _that's just stupid."_

As if Ryoma-kun cared about what any guy said or did with me. Ryoga-nii-san would have better success stealing all the ponta from the refrigerator or getting Ryoma-kun's cat Karupin to sleep in his bed instead of Ryoma-kun's.

Ryoma-kun propped himself up on his elbow and leaned over me with a slight smile on his face.

"Thank you...for saving me from him again actually. I don't like it when boys grab me like that."

Ryoma-kun frowned, "Who else has been grabbing you?"

I gave another non-committal shrug. What was the point in telling Ryoma-kun about it after the fact? Besides...Ryoma-kun was definitely the worst offender when it came to boys grabbing me. He probably didn't want to hear that though, and I'd meant it when I'd told him I didn't want to fight. As I watched his frown deepen, I elaborated lamely, "I'm a small, clumsy girl. They are probably just trying to help."

"Do you mean Yoshimura-senpai and Momo-senpai?"

Wow...I never noticed Ryoma-kun paid attention to me so closely. Did he keep track of every time someone touched me? On second thought, probably not. It was probably more along the lines of that Ryoma-kun is just observant in general. In fact, he was probably more observant than I gave him credit for. He was amazing at tennis, so he's probably always paying attention to everything going on around him. Wasn't that some kind of a requirement for being as good as he was?

"It doesn't matter. I was just saying thank you for helping me today with Ryoga-nii-san."

Ryoma-kun gave me a long blank stare, but didn't say anything else. Finally getting sick of the silence, I rolled over on my side, and closed my eyes, trying to get some sleep.  _Trying to figure out what he was thinking was pointless._  I'd learned that lesson over a year ago. After I'd rolled over, it seemed to snap Ryoma-kun out of whatever he was thinking about because I felt him lay down behind me and wrap an arm around me, pulling his chest up against my back.

My heart fluttered in response.

Why? Why did he have to do things like that?

I was a little disappointed that he hadn't kissed me at all though...

_Oh what was wrong with me?_


	10. Chapter Ten

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Ten

* * *

I never should have thanked Ryoma-kun for getting Ryoga-nii-san to leave me alone that night at camp during our second year of middle school. I can now see quite clearly that it was the start of where I find myself at now.

Stuck.

I'm sooooo stuck. It starts and ends with Ryoma-kun being a bully, and the in between is the big jumbled up hot mess of the things that nobody else knows about besides Ryoma-kun and I, but I'm positive that it was my thanking him that solidified it for him.

Thinking he has my permission to...

I mean, honestly, I'd just been trying to be nice, and keep us from fighting about stupid things that didn't matter. Ryoma-kun didn't like me. Ryoga-nii-san didn't either. Even if either or both of them did, there was no reason to talk about it with Ryoma-kun anyways. That had been my thinking at the time. I hadn't known what Ryoma-kun was thinking back then, but now I think he was thinking it was my way of giving him permission to sabotage, prevent, stop and/or interfere in some way or another anytime any male so much as looked my way, let alone talked to me, or gasp, heaven forbid asked me out on a date.

Ever since then, Ryoma-kun hasn't allowed any boys to barely even think about having an interest in me. Usually it's been subtle, just enough for any nice guy to get the hint. Sometimes, he's been more direct, but he's always, always, always succeeded in ruining any opportunities I've had to go out on a proper date with any boy ever since.

The worst of it is, to be perfectly honest, I haven't really been interested in the guys that have approached me. Some of them have been very cute, or cool. Some of them have been really nice. A lot of them have been in the "knows Ryoma-kun too well" zone, or in my "friend only" zone, or in the "can't date someone I go to school with" zone that I'd made as a rule for myself the first time Ryoma-kun had ignored me at school after kissing me all night. Then there were the foreign boys that tried to hook up with me when I traveled with Ryoma-kun for his tennis tournaments. Those were the most frightening ones, and the times when I was actually rather grateful for Ryoma-kun's interference since my English had improved, but I still wasn't fantastic at it despite all the traveling to English speaking countries.

Oh yes, the traveling. I know, as if things weren't complicated enough with seeing Ryoma-kun at school everyday, our families being old friends, and all the tennis tournaments I went to in support of the Seigaku tennis team, there were the professional tennis tournaments I went to with Ryoma-kun as well.

It was as if fate was my biggest enemy, constantly throwing me in Ryoma-kun's pathway so he could bully me to his everlasting delight.

Those traveling trips had started the summer of our third year of middle school when we'd been fourteen. It was the first year Ryoma-kun would be competing at the US Open with the adults. The previous two years, he'd played as a junior competitor, but now that he was fourteen, he was able to join the adults.

Sadly, Ryoma-kun's parents hadn't been able to make the trip to New York with him that year for the US Open. His mother had taken ill with pneumonia, and his father was at the hospital with her 24/7. Ryoma-kun had actually been staying at our house as soon as Auntie Rinko had been admitted in the hospital. His parents had been very adamant that he shouldn't be at their house where he could possibly be exposed to any remaining germs, especially not with the tournament being a few days away. Grandma, who'd had pneumonia as a young girl, had been over at the Echizen's every day scrubbing down the house from ceiling to floor to get it clean for when Auntie was feeling better and could be let out of the hospital.

Ryoma-kun for his part, was taking it all fairly well, at least I thought so, but Grandma didn't agree. I could tell he was worried about his mom because he kept yanking on my braids, and was much more demanding on me than usual, but I didn't really think it was as big of a deal as Grandma thought it was. Grandma was really worried about Ryoma-kun and she'd instructed me to suck up whatever Ryoma-kun threw at me and to just support Ryoma-kun because he was under a lot of pressure with the US Open coming up and his mother being so ill. I honestly wonder if Grandma would have been so supportive if she'd known that most of the time while she wasn't at home, and during the middle of the night that Ryoma-kun had been taking full advantage of my availability and my take whatever he was dishing out attitude she'd promoted.

On the third day of Auntie being in the hospital, Grandma had come home late in the evening and gathered the three of us together in the living room to give us the news. It had been decided that I would travel with Ryoma-kun to New York for the US Open. Ryoma-kun didn't seem to care much about the announcement. He'd merely shrugged as if it didn't matter to him and then left the room. Alone with Grandma, I'd been able to bombard her with all my questions and concerns.

"Why am I the one going with Ryoma-kun?" I'd began.

Grandma gave a big sigh, "Sakuno, I have to stay here so I can help out with Rinko's care when she's able to get out of the hospital. It's not like that idiot Nanjiro is going to be able to take care of her. Ryoma is going to need someone to cheer him on, and keep his mind off of what's going on here with his mother. He shouldn't have to go alone to his professional tennis debut championship. The two of you have always been close friends and you've been supporting Ryoma at the tournaments here for years, so it makes sense to send the two of you together. Do you understand how important of a job it is for you to go with him?"

I had to admit, the reasoning of Auntie, Uncle and Grandma made sense, but honestly, I was scared about going off to America with Ryoma-kun and no adults. We were only fourteen! I didn't know English very well. What if Ryoma-kun and I got separated?

Not to mention the one concern I wouldn't bring up to Grandma, which was what was going to happen if I was sent off to another country with Ryoma-kun of all people? I mean, the guy had a tendency to torture me, kiss me senseless and then ignore my existence. That just didn't bode well.

"I understand, but I don't know about going to the United States with only Ryoma-kun. What if something happens?"

Grandma gave me a sad smile then, "Ah, Sakuno. Don't worry child, Ryoma lived in New York with his parents from when he was very young until a couple of years ago when they moved here. You should be just fine there with him, I'm sure he can take care of you. I know it's not ideal, but it is a good opportunity for you to visit the US, and you will be helping out our old family friends. Ryoma probably won't show it, but he needs support for this. I'm sure he'll be grateful to have you with him. It's the best option we all have for this situation."

I heaved a sigh of defeat. Once Grandma pulled the old family friends card, I knew further discussion was pointless. If I so much as voiced a peep of concern after that speech, she'd start in on my character flaws, and how I was shaming our good family name, or some other guilt trip tirade that old people like to give you when you're trying to dodge out of what they view as family obligations. So I did the only thing I could do at that point, I gave Grandma a nervous smile and with a slight nod said, "Un. I'll go with Ryoma-kun to America."

Three weeks in New York City with Ryoma-kun! On Auntie and Uncle's dime! I could barely believe it! Since Uncle and Auntie had booked plane tickets and an extra room for themselves at the hotel to be with Ryoma-kun, one of the tickets was transferred to my name, and I got their hotel room. The worst part had been going to the American embassy with Grandma to get my travel visa approved last minute. We only had a day before I had to leave, so the preparations had been a quick, scary blur of nightmarish activity.

It felt as if I'd barely blinked from the conversation about going to America at all I'd had with Grandma in our living room to standing in the terminal in Haneda airport with Ryoma-kun at my side and Grandma giving me kisses and telling me to make the most of my first trip to America. What a whirlwind!

As Ryoma-kun and I boarded our plane and tuckered in for the 13 hour long flight ahead of us, I looked forlornly out of the window, wondering if the next three weeks would be hell on earth.

Good-bye...Japan...

Arriving in New York City with Ryoma-kun was possibly the scariest situation of my whole life up until that point. I mean, we were really in another country! Most everybody was speaking English, and really quickly, so I could barely pick up a single word. Even scarier was the fact that a lot of people were speaking other languages than English! America was nothing like I expected it to be!

I found myself hanging onto Ryoma-kun like my life depended on it. Thankfully, he didn't give me a hard time about the fact that I was probably squeezing all the blood out of his arm, or ruining his jacket permanently. Instead, he'd calmly walked us to the baggage claim, retrieved our luggage and then walked us out of JFK airport, as if he did such things on a daily basis. Outside the terminal, he'd bypassed the cabs, and the busses, and instead lead the way to one of the black cars lined up in another line. He spoke briefly with the man leaning against one of the cars in English and then our bags were being loaded into the car, and we were on the road in our own private car.

I leaned back in the seat, and threw my head back against the headrest, one hand still desperately grasping onto the sleeve of Ryoma-kun's jacket. Ryoma-kun muttered something under his breath about how annoying it was that there were no direct flights from Tokyo to La Guardia. I had no idea what he was talking about. Where was La Guardia? Why would we want to go there?

As our car made its way out of the airport, Ryoma-kun gently tapped his hand against my knee that was closest to him, "Are you okay now?"

Continuing to grasp onto Ryoma-kun's sleeve, I gave a slight nod of more bravery than I was feeling. We were fine now. We were away from all the people speaking languages I didn't understand and all the cars, and we were now in our quiet little car zooming away from the airport.

By the time we were on the freeway, I was feeling quite a bit better, and soon enough I was excitedly staring out of the window hoping to see the famous New York City skyline. I didn't see anything that resembled the pictures I'd seen of New York. Worried, I turned towards Ryoma-kun, "How far are we from the city?"

Ryoma-kun gave me a strange look, "We're in the city."

I waved my hand towards the window, "Where are the skyscrapers?"

"That's because we're in Queens, not Manhattan."

"So where is the Empire State Building and The Statue of Liberty? I thought we were going to New York City? I don't think we're really in New York City. What if this driver is taking us to the wrong place?"

Ryoma-kun gave me a wry smile before saying, "You do know I lived here until two years ago...right?"

I flushed with embarrassment at his condescending tone, "Right."

"I've been here before for the US Open the last two years. This is the right place," Ryoma-kun added reassuringly.

A minute of silence followed before I asked, "So...we're really in New York City?"

Ryoma-kun closed his eyes for a moment and then said, "Queens is part of New York City, just like Manhattan where all the skyscrapers are, and we're almost to Flushing where the tournament will be."

Ryoma-kun sure did know a lot more about the world than I did. I had to give him credit for living in such a multicultural big city crowded with so many people, and knowing English so well. I really didn't know anybody else like him, did I? No wonder he was always making fun of me, I was such a simple girl in comparison to him.

Ryoma-kun was correct and the trip from JFK to Flushing was a short ride, so within about 15 minutes from leaving from JFK we were arriving at our hotel.

As Ryoma-kun paid the driver, I stood at the hotel entrance and stared into the lobby beyond. It was a pretty big hotel, but in all honesty, it just wasn't what I had imagined for New York City. I'd been imagining being in the heart of the city, where all the flashing billboards were with looming skyscrapers surrounding us, blocking out most of the sky. This was... _not like that._

During check-in, Ryoma-kun spoke quite a bit with the guy that gave us our room keys. They were speaking in English, and as usual it was really fast, but it was the most I think I've ever heard Ryoma-kun say. Maybe he talked more in English since he grew up in America? His Japanese was perfect though, so I doubted it. Still...it was kind-of weird to hear him talking so much.

Ryoma-kun led the way to the elevator, while he muttered something under his breath in English. I could tell he was kind-of irritated about something, but I didn't understand him, and I figured he didn't want me to pry. Within minutes he was opening the door to a room and gesturing for me to proceed him inside.

As Ryoma-kun closed the door behind us, I took in the one big bed in the middle of the room and smiled. This wasn't going to be half bad was it? Turning back to Ryoma-kun, I gave him a big smile, "This is a nice room Ryoma-kun! Are our rooms connected? Where's your room?"

Ryoma-kun shook his head and dropped his tennis bag on the big bed, "We're sharing this room."

"What?  _WHY?_  Grandma said I was going to have your parents' room!"

Ryoma-kun grimaced for a minute, "They don't have connecting rooms here except for some of the suites, but all the suites were booked. If we weren't so far away from our place, I would have just taken you there, but the subway would take an hour to get here from our place in Manhattan. That's why we booked rooms at this hotel so we could be close to the tournament." He stopped for a minute and gave me a serious look, "You don't want to be on your own."

I took a step back in shock at his words. He was right.  _How did he know that?_

"No, I don't."

Ryoma-kun shrugged and then gave me a naughty grin, "You act like we haven't slept together before."

I blushed, "Ryoma-kun!"

He smirked and then moved his tennis bag off the bed and put it on the desk. Turning down one of the top corners of the bed he announced, "I'm going to take a nap."

I stared longingly at the bed for a moment. I was exhausted too, the flight had been long, and I didn't get much sleep. I had no idea what time it was in Japan, but my body felt like it was the middle of the night. I released my hold on my suitcase and moved towards the bed, "Ryoma-kun, we won't get in trouble for sharing a room?"

He shrugged as he dug through his suitcase. Pulling out some toiletries and a pair of sweats he went into the bathroom.

Thinking Ryoma-kun was full of good ideas, such as getting clean and going to sleep, I moved back towards my suitcase and flipped it over on its side. Rummaging through it, I grabbed my own toiletries and a pajama set.

Ryoma-kun emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, bare chested wearing his sweats. I flushed for a second and then went into the bathroom. A few minutes later I was fresh faced and changed into my pajamas. I strolled across the room and pulled the curtains closed, blocking out the sunlight and crawled into the bed with Ryoma-kun.

He rolled over and wrapped an arm around my midsection as I sighed with relief into my pillow.

I hadn't even realized how tired I was...and then...just like that...I was sleeping.

 


	11. Chapter Eleven

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Eleven

* * *

I woke up in a panic as I was greeted with an unfamiliar ceiling and loud ringing. Flailing my arms out in the darkness, I searched for a light, my brain spinning as I tried to recall where I was and what I was doing there.

Arms wrapped around me, "Sakuno. We're in New York for the US Open. It's just the phone."

Recognizing Ryoma-kun's voice calmed me down immediately. As his words sank in I recalled where I was and what we were doing there and felt like I could breathe again. The phone rang again and Ryoma-kun pulled me along with him as he reached back to the nightstand where the phone was. Leaning back against the bed's headboard, he tucked my head against his chest.

"Hello?" Ryoma-kun asked in English as he answered the phone.

This was new...and I gotta say, feeling Ryoma-kun's chest moving under my head as he talked was...kind-of...all sorts of nice.

"Seishounen! How was the trip? Are you settled in your hotel okay?" I could hear Uncle Nanjiro's voice perfectly since he was talking so loudly.

"It's fine."

"How's Sakuno-chan?"

"Scared."

I sighed as Ryoma-kun unconsciously pulled me closer and idly ran his hand that was holding me down the side of my arm.

"Aww! Why is she scared?"

"The phone woke us up."

"Ah, so you were sleeping. Wait...what? Sakuno-chan's sleeping in your room?"

"No, she's sleeping in our room."

I could hear Uncle laugh at Ryoma-kun's deadpan delivery of our circumstances. No wonder the adults never thought we were doing things like kissing with the way he talked so dispassionately about everything. If Uncle could only see how I was cuddled up in his arms right now he probably wouldn't be laughing so hard. I wondered sadistically what Uncle would say if I told him Ryoma-kun had tried to undress me in his bathroom last year.

"So you're sleeping with the old hag's cute little granddaughter, eh? Good for you. I guess you're happy that we couldn't go with you then? Hehehehe."

"You got me, Old Man. The last thing I wanted at my first adult level professional tennis grand slam tournament was my parents."

My eyes widened with surprise at Ryoma-kun's words. Maybe I wasn't the only person that knew the real Ryoma-kun afterall?! I mean, sure he talked that way with me all the time, but I always thought I was the only one he bullied like that. I really couldn't believe he was giving his father a hard time for not being there since his mom was so sick. I suppose though, if anybody else was going to see the real Ryoma-kun it would be his family... _I think._  It still caught me off guard though, I really thought the rest of the world was fooled, Ryoma-kun's family included.

"Ah, Ryoma. You know we want to be there. Your Mom and I will be watching on the TV with the old hag. Give Sakuno-chan a kiss and forget all about it."

Ryoma-kun twirled the end of my hair around against my side. Again, I wondered if Uncle would be talking the way he was if he knew how Ryoma-kun was holding me right now in bed, and that I could hear their whole conversation since I was laying on Ryoma-kun's chest.

"I'm telling Ryuzaki-sensei that you told me to make out with Sakuno."

Uncle laughed raucously at that.

You know what? Nevermind. Uncle really didn't get it...he thought there wasn't any possible way there was anything perverse going on. Ryoma-kun  _did_ have the whole world fooled besides me.

"So the doctors said they might be able to release your Mom from the hospital in a couple of days. She's still really sick so the old hag and I are going to be taking care of her once she's out, but at least we should all be able to watch WOWOW to see your matches."

"If they show them."

"They'll show them."

"How do you know that?"

"Because...you're going to blow the tennis world away, kid."

Ryoma-kun was silent for a minute before he said, "Thanks."

"I'll call again. Take care of Sakuno-chan and don't worry about us, we'll be fine. Just focus on your tennis."

"Okay."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Ryoma-kun leaned over a bit so he could put the phone back in its cradle on the nightstand. Laying back again he turned towards me and wrapped his other arm around me. As he gently pulled me closer he said, "Did you hear that  _honey?_ Dad says we should be making out."

I laughed so hard I lost myself. I probably woke up our neighbors, since the hotel room's walls weren't exactly thick. Ryoma-kun snickered along with me as he continued to cuddle me close. I have to say, until that moment, I had no idea Ryoma-kun could be so genuinely funny. Honestly, it felt way too good to be laughing in bed with him about our own inside joke. It felt natural, it felt real, it felt like I belonged there, it felt like I was meant to be there by his side and that we had our own little world. Those emotions that stirred up inside of me scared me half to death.

So I laughed harder.

* * *

The next time I woke up was to the now somewhat familiar sound of Ryoma-kun's cell phone vibrating under the pillow. I wondered irritatingly why he had to have the annoying habit of a vibrating alarm under the pillow as we both groped with our arms under the pillow, searching for the electronic device.

I finally wrapped my hand around it, and pulled it out from under the covers. Ryoma-kun grabbed it from my hands and shut it off. He rolled off of his side of the bed, and a minute later he flung the curtains open, letting the bright morning light stream in through the windows.

I placed a hand over my eyes irritably and rolled over with a groan. The sunlight was blinding and honestly, I was still tired. I wanted nothing more than to just keep sleeping, but it seemed that Ryoma-kun was determined for us to get up. It felt like we'd slept for a whole day, but I was still so jet lagged, I had no idea what day it was. I figured it must be morning in New York, but I had no idea what time my body thought it was.

"We have a good view of La Guardia," Ryoma-kun commented.

Curious at his comment, I opened my eyes and let them adjust to the light, "What's La Guardia?"

Ryoma-kun made the huffing sound he made when he thought I was a complete moron, (which I heard often enough from him) and said, "Come see for yourself."

With my own huff of annoyance, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and sat up for a moment gathering myself. Then I stood up and made my way over to the window.

Wow! There was an airport across the street! I watched in fascination as a plane taxied towards the runway. Suddenly, Ryoma-kun's comment the other day about La Guardia made sense to me, "So there's no direct flights from Tokyo to this airport?"

Ryoma-kun rolled his eyes, "I know, it's ridiculous we're so close to an airport, but we can only get direct flights to JFK."

I watched the same plane speed down the runway and take off over the water in the distance in fascination, "So where are the tennis courts?"

Ryoma-kun grinned then, "We have to take the shuttle to Flushing Meadows, but it's only a few minutes away."

"So when are we going?"

"Get ready. We're going now. I need to get signed in and it's possible I'll have my first qualifying match today."

"Are you nervous, Ryoma-kun?"

"Nervous?" Ryoma-kun gave me his cocky mada mada dane smirk and scoffed, "I'm excited."

As always, I found his outlook on a challenge to be incredibly weird. If I was about to play tennis against the best players in the world, even if I was as good as Ryoma-kun, I'd probably be throwing up in the bathroom. I shook my head at his arrogance and wondered if the other top level players in the world were even half as cocky.

I supposed there was a good possibility that I was about to find out.

That first day really was something too. We'd piled onto the shuttle bus that took us to Flushing Meadows, which was an amazingly huge sports park. Not only was there a whole section for tennis with over 20 outdoor courts by my count, but there were parkways, fountains, an olympic size swimming pool, and more facilities than I thought I could possibly have the time to explore even if we were going to be spending the bulk of our time there for the next three weeks. Or rather, a little under three weeks now.  _I still didn't know what day it was._

There were already a lot of people there for the US Open, even though it was only the first day for qualifying matches. Everywhere I looked there were tennis players, reporters, and crowds of tennis fans. Ryoma-kun seemed to be in his element as he casually walked us towards the registration area. I reminded myself that this was his third year playing in this tournament and I was once again awed by how much Ryoma-kun had already experienced.

It was at the registration desk that I found out about Ryoma-kun's professional tennis success thus far. He'd won the US Open in the Juniors division the last two years in a row. Since he was now old enough to compete in the Men's Singles, he'd been automatically added into the qualifying rounds. I'd always believed that Ryoma-kun would be number one someday, but before going with him to New York that year, I didn't know how close he'd been to reaching that goal. Even though I'd been impressed with Ryoma-kun's natural tennis talent from the day we'd met, I was shocked at how great he was all over again.

Wow. Just wow.

After getting registered, Ryoma-kun handed me a badge with a lanyard, "Don't lose this, it's for both of us, and stay by my side."

I'd been practically glued to his hip ever since we'd left our hotel room, but I scooted a bit closer to him, "I won't go anywhere without you."

Ryoma-kun gave a slight nod, his eyes roaming around, watching other players that were there to register, "Let's go find a practice court."

So I followed as Ryoma-kun led the way to the courts there at Flushing Meadows. Finding an open practice court, Ryoma-kun unzipped his backpack and handed me his spare racquet. I paused as I was overcome with a sense of déjà vu.

Once upon a time two years ago, he'd given me his primary red racquet as he'd left to come here to New York City. At the time, I wasn't sure I would see him again, and he'd been gruffly instructing me that he expected an email every day. That racquet had meant the world to me then. I'd been sure that it meant Ryoma-kun liked me, at least a little bit. I'd been sure that no matter what happened or where he lived, we'd be together again someday, because it was Ryoma-kun's most favorite, most treasured possession and he'd given it to  _me_.

It is a wonderful racquet, far superior to my pink one and for the few months while Ryoma-kun had been gone I had cherished and loved using it. I had proudly showed it off at school and practices, overjoyed that I had Ryoma-kun's racquet, that Ryoma-kun had given me his red racquet that rarely left his side. I had basked in Tomo-chan's jealousy that I had been given such a precious treasure. I had giggled when Momo-senpai had teased me about young love.

At home, I had spent hours holding it, staring at the red R on the bottom of the handle, reminding myself that I had Ryoma-kun's racquet. That the R was for Ryoma, not Ryuzaki. I would endlessly get swept away into my mind in these fantasies about how it connected the two of us together. The depth of the emotions that red racquet had triggered within me were huge. If his racquet had been so loved and cherished by him, if his racquet had never left his side...by giving it to me...did it mean all those things applied to me too?

I'd hoped so. For a short while after the first time he kissed me,  _I'd thought so._

Then he'd returned to school and broken my heart. It was now collecting dust in the most hidden away part of my closet.

_These days, I couldn't even look at it._

I spun the new racquet Ryoma-kun had handed to me around in my hand for a few moments as I tried to shoo the strong emotions it surfaced within me away. It was just like the one Ryoma-kun had given me, but not as worn in.  _It was not as loved._  It was not the same racquet, and he wasn't giving it to me. Taking a deep breath, I mustered up my courage that I could use this red racquet. I gave it a hard look of determination as I muttered, "Ryoma-kun, I don't think I'll be much help to you."

"Just hit the ball, Ryuzaki," He quickly snapped back.

Oh, he really knows how to make me mad! He is such a bully!  _Bully, bully, bully, bully, bully, bully, bully, bully!_

Walking over to the baseline on the opposite side of the court from Ryoma-kun, I braced myself to return the ball to him and not embarrass myself on one of the courts here at the US Open.

With his racquet in his right hand, Ryoma-kun bounced the ball a couple of times and then jumped into the air as he sent his twist serve my way. Watching the ball come speeding at me, and even knowing that it would spin and bounce towards my face, I cursed the boy that lived to torment me on the other side of the net and wished more than ever that Auntie hadn't gotten sick and it was Uncle Nanjiro that was about to receive this serve.

Holding my racquet up to my face, I waited for the ball to impact the strings, and tilted my wrist just enough for the ball to fly wildly back across the net towards Ryoma-kun.

"Not bad for you, Ryuzaki!" Ryoma-kun called over as he swung his racquet and returned the ball back my way.

I cursed him under my breath as I ran across the court to backhand the ball back towards him. Giving the ball the force of my anger I said, "Stop. Calling me... _Ryuzaki!"_

It was really annoying how he changed from calling me Sakuno to Ryuzaki and back again at his whim. As usual in our relationship, I never knew where I stood with him, and his way of addressing me just added to that frustration. I watched in satisfaction as the ball sped over the net towards Ryoma-kun, and took in his supremely satisfied smirk.

_What the...?_

He effortlessly returned the ball back to me, but I was so busy puzzling over his unusually gleeful expression that the ball bounced right past me.

Ryoma-kun approached the net, "You could have returned that one,  _Sakuno."_

And oh...if the way he said my name that day didn't sound different from every other time he'd ever said it. With a sudden moment of mental clarity, I realized I had inadvertently so much as demanded that Ryoma-kun address me intimately. It was a liberty he'd been taking amongst others for a over a year now, but...

Still.

That sneaky, cocky, manipulative...

"So are you going to get the ball and help me warm up or what?" Ryoma-kun asked, his tone bored.

Bully.

Snapping out of my musing thoughts and subsequent fury at the prince of tennis, I looked around and noticed some of the players and a few spectators watching the two of us with interest. I was suddenly burned up with embarrassment. I had just missed an easy return.  _In front of some of the best tennis players in the world._ Mortified to levels I hadn't known existed until then, I spun on my heel, and jogged over where the ball lay about a foot away from the fence. Picking it up, I walked back to the baseline. Bouncing the ball a few times against the hard court surface, I grit my teeth, and jumping into the air, I sent my most powerful serve across the net, hoping it would smack Ryoma-kun in the mouth and knock that cocky grin off of his dangerously good looking face.

I might not be a world class tennis player, but I wasn't the complete n00b I was last time I was on a court with Ryoma-kun. If I had anything to say about it, he was about to find out what over two years of tennis experience and instruction with the Seigaku regulars as your friends could do to a girl or so help me...

A half an hour later, Ryoma-kun grabbed the ball mid-volley and stuffed it into his pocket. He shifted his hat back and forth slightly and wiped his brow with the sweatband on his wrist before he made his way back towards his tennis bag.

Assuming we were done embarrassing me publicly for now, I met him at his bag and handed over his spare racquet. Ryoma-kun took his racquet back without comment, and put the tennis ball back in the canister. Stuffing it all into his bag, he zipped it up and made his way out of the fenced in court area.

Finding a vending machine he bought a couple of sodas for us. Sadly, they had no ponta, but Ryoma-kun still bought some sort of grape flavor for the two of us. After he'd taken a big swig of his soda, and I'd taken a more ladylike sip of mine, Ryoma-kun leaned over and gave me a quick peck on my lips.

"Your tennis sucks compared to my old man, but...thank you... _Sakuno."_

I must have given him a pretty stupid look because he gave a brief chuckle of amusement before he leaned over and kissed me again.

_What had made him so happy?_

"My first match starts in fifteen minutes," Ryoma-kun announced before he chugged the remainder of his soda and tossed the can away.

Stunned, I practically tripped over myself to follow after him, and catching up to him, we made our way to the court where he'd play his first US Open match. I fleetingly felt that Ryoma-kun didn't need to be nervous, because I was certainly nervous enough for the both of us.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Twelve

* * *

I could barely believe that Ryoma-kun was playing one of the first matches of the US Open and that I was there to see it in person...in New York City! Okay, it was only the first round in the qualifiers, but as far as I was concerned, it was still a big deal.

Taking a seat in the stands that were court-side I watched as Ryoma-kun did the obligatory handshakes to start the match. I was surprised to see Ryoma-kun start the match with his right hand instead of his left. At such a high-level match, I expected him to take it more seriously from the beginning, but instead he had a knowing smirk, and kept his racquet in his right hand.

Getting the first service, he began right out with his twist serve. I watched as he tested out his opponent, seemingly giving him points. His opponent won the first game. As they were changing ends, I gave Ryoma-kun a questioning look. He walked over to me and tapped his sneaker against mine, "Are you worried?"

I shook my head no and bit my lip from commenting. I had a feeling anything I said would just get me a 'mada mada dane' or one of those 'you are so stupid' looks that Ryoma-kun liked to send my way.

Taking a swig of water from my water bottle, Ryoma-kun handed the bottle back to me and returned back to the court, this time starting the game out with his left hand.

Ryoma-kun won every game of the match after that.

As Ryoma-kun shook hands once again at the end of the match, I gathered up our small amount of belongings. Ryoma-kun led the way back to the shuttle and back to the hotel, where we had a light lunch while discussing his match and then returned to our room.

Back in the room, Ryoma-kun disappeared into the bathroom for a few minutes and I sat on the bed, wondering what we would do the rest of the day. After Ryoma-kun came out of the bathroom, he flung himself onto our bed and heaved a sigh, "I'm going to take a nap."

I giggled. It was so like Ryoma-kun to sleep all the time. When he wasn't playing tennis that is.

I stood up from the bed and went to the bathroom. As I grabbed for my toothbrush, I noticed it was obvious that Ryoma-kun had also just brushed his teeth again. It made me think about kissing. I shouldn't have thought so much about it, but I couldn't help it.

We'd been alone together on this trip for much longer than we'd ever been alone without some heavy make-out session, so in a way it wasn't surprising I was thinking about it, but in another way it was. The honest truth was that, I was kind-of relieved that even though we were sharing a room and sleeping together that there hadn't been anything really intimate, since that was usually a prelude to Ryoma-kun ignoring me for a while, unless you excluded the training camp nights we'd spend in the linen closet. Still, we were alone in New York, so the last thing I wanted to go through was being ignored or left behind so far from home, family and friends.

_It was bad enough when he did it to me in Tokyo._

He'd given me a couple of pecks that day at the vending machine though, and even though he'd acted as if it was nothing, (as usual), he hadn't started ignoring me yet either. This whole traveling together experience seemed to bring a whole new level of our "what the hell is this?" relationship. He wasn't acting like my boyfriend like he did when we were staying the night alone back home, he wasn't acting like we were "just good friends" since he'd been kissing me a little and cuddling with me at night. He also wasn't acting like we barely knew each other either. So what was this?

I glared at Ryoma-kun's toothbrush for a few seconds as I started to brush my teeth wondering if and when he'd  _really_  kiss me on this trip. It was just this feeling I had that something was about to change...

There was only one thing I knew for sure.

_Ryoma-kun always gets his way._

Exiting the bathroom, I dropped onto the bed next to Ryoma-kun, "I'm tired too, a nap sounds good."

I'd barely gotten the words out before I was wrapped up in his arms, and he was kissing me. As usual when we were kissing, part of me was excited and happy, the other part of me was nervous and uncertain.

* * *

The next day Ryoma-kun didn't have a match, but we made the trip over to Flushing Meadows anyway. We spent the whole day over there, watching the tennis matches going on. Here and there, Ryoma-kun would comment to me about some tennis move or another that he was impressed with. Usually we sat in silent excitement, watching the players. Here and there Ryoma-kun would scoff or grunt, or grip his hand into a tight fist, but generally speaking, he sat there nonchalantly with his eyes moving to and fro as they followed the ball.

While I had years of practice watching tennis matches from all the tournaments I'd been going to over the years to watch Ryoma-kun play, I didn't have experience sitting with Ryoma-kun to watch the matches. I yearned for the company of Tomo-chan or Horio-kun, Kachiro-kun and Katsuo-kun. I also missed Momo-senpai because he usually sat with me when he wasn't playing, and he would patiently explain to me what was going on during matches. Even during first year Inui-senpai had a tendency to sneak up behind me and explain everything in detail, which is one of the ways I learned so much about tennis. I've always secretly felt like we don't give Inui-senpai and his data tennis enough credit...you know? Anyways, sitting with Ryoma-kun was completely different. I kind-of got the impression that he expected more of me, that he expected me to understand what was going on without having to explain it to me.

So I tried to do just that...

We meandered a bit through the city towards the end of the day and got some pizza. I was completely ecstatic to try real New York pizza for my first time. Ryoma-kun had scoffed at my enthusiasm, but the corner of his mouth still quirked up with amusement.

Back at the hotel, we took turns taking showers and then Ryoma-kun kissed me again until I fell asleep.

The third day, Ryoma-kun had another match in the morning, so we got up early. We had a light breakfast at the hotel, and then made our way back to Flushing Meadows. Once again, Ryoma-kun tortured me on one of the practice courts for a warm up session, and soon enough we were at the court for his second match.

We'd seen Ryoma-kun's opponent play the day beforehand, and Ryoma-kun started and ended the match with his right hand only, and he won fairly easily. I was curious how he'd known so much just from watching one match the day before, but I kept it to myself. I was pretty sure I wouldn't get any real answer, just a mada mada dane.

_I really didn't want to hear Ryoma-kun say mada mada dane to me ever again, so I tried not to give him opportunities._

The fourth day was Ryoma-kun's last match to get through the qualifications, but unlike the day before, his match that day was in the afternoon, not the morning. At the end of his match, Ryoma-kun grabbed my hand and began pulling me along after him. I didn't know what was going on, but we left Flushing Meadows in a taxicab, and about 10 minutes later, I saw my first glimpse of the famous New York City skyline. I grabbed onto Ryoma-kun's shirt sleeve excitedly and pointed out the window, "Ryoma-kun, LOOK! We  _really are_  in New York!"

Ryoma-kun chuckled and then pointed out a few landmarks to me.

"Are we going there?" I'd asked.

Ryoma-kun quirked an eyebrow, "What do you think?"

Rolling my eyes, I determined not to let him damper my excitement with his sarcasm and asked, "What are we going to do there?"

Ryoma-kun gave me a cocky grin, "Celebrate. After winning today's match I've officially qualified to compete in the tournament. I'm going to be a professionally ranked player."

I'd never felt so proud of him, and in a moment of insanity, I'd thrown my arms around his neck and kissed his cheek, "I knew you would do it Ryoma-kun!"

As I'd pulled away from him, he had a smile on his lips, and a dark look in his eyes that scared me a bit. Why the intensity? Suddenly feeling overly self-conscience, I scooted away from him a bit, but Ryoma-kun reached across the seat, and held my hand the rest of the way into downtown. My traitorous heart had soared with happiness.

_I wanted the moment to last forever._

We got out of the taxi in the heart of Times Square. The larger than life billboards were flashing away all around us, lighting up the city streets as if it were still daytime. They were so big and so bright, I could feel the heat coming off of them. I stood there in the center of it all in awe for a few minutes, thinking, surely...I was at the center of the world.

Ryoma-kun had stood next to me, his hands stuffed into his pockets, glancing around the area. He'd put his hat and his tennis racquet into his tennis bag, and he looked really relaxed given how exciting of an area we were in. I reminded myself that Ryoma-kun had lived in New York City for years, and had probably been to Times Square tons of times.

We walked across the street, and I took a picture of us showing up on the Forever 21 billboard with my cell phone. I immediately set it as my phone's wallpaper and was happy that I'd kept my phone with me, even though it didn't work in America, at least I was able to use it as a camera. I snapped a few other pictures, all the while keeping one hand grasped tightly onto Ryoma-kun's backpack. I still couldn't believe I was in Times Square with Ryoma-kun! It felt like a dream.

We walked around a bit, and poked into a few stores to browse through their wares. Finally, we ducked into an Italian restaurant, and had one of the best dinners I've ever had in my life there. I never even knew I liked Italian food so much.

After dinner, we walked around a bit more, and then Ryoma-kun got us another taxi and we drove back to our hotel in Queens. I knew Ryoma-kun had said we were going to Times Square to celebrate his success at making it through the qualifiers matches, but I couldn't help but feel like we'd finally just been on our first date.

Of course, that was just wishful thinking on my part. Ryoma-kun didn't really like me like that. He might like kissing me, and he might not hate my company, but I was and still am positive that I'm just convenient for him. In fact, that night in the back of my mind, a part of me had been thinking that since Ryoma-kun was now a professional tennis player, he wouldn't spend much more time with me. He was headed for greatness, I was just another ordinary girl from Japan.  _It was like a ticking time bomb._

I still feel that way...

That night we arrived back to our hotel really late into the night, so we slept in on the first day of the tournament. It didn't matter because Ryoma-kun's first round match was scheduled for the second day. After we woke up, we spent some time lounging in the bed watching the tournament going on down the road on the television and relaxing.

Later in the afternoon, we took the shuttle over to Flushing Meadows to check in on the tournament in person and we watched a few awesome matches on the side courts. Ryoma-kun had lamented that watching the matches of the top ranked players in the Arthur Ashe stadium that week would be pointless because their competitors were so far below them. Feeling a bit disappointed at that news myself, I'd grabbed Ryoma-kun's sleeve and tugged down on it, "Ne, Ryoma-kun, next week you'll be playing against them."

Ryoma-kun seemed to like that comment because he leaned over and gave me a brief kiss, "Thank you."

I didn't realize how much of a compliment that comment really was until the next week of the tournament rolled around. It was day 8 of the tournament, and Men's Singles was on round four. All the matches were now off of the side courts, and in the stadiums only. The players left were primarily the top-seeded players, and some of the higher ranked players in the world. Ryoma-kun had done really well so far, but at my praises, he kept brushing it off, the same as he had for the qualifiers saying that he was still waiting to play against his real competition. All I knew was that if Ryoma-kun could maintain his winning streak, he'd be in the quarterfinals for his first professional level US Open.  _It was a pretty big deal._

Uncle had been right about Ryoma-kun shaking up the tennis world. The fact that such a young, new player had made it to round four of his "first" US Open was making it into the news. It seemed as if there was a buzz about Ryoma-kun everywhere we went. It was making me a little uncomfortable since it was a lot of attention, but I tried to be tough about it for the sake of supporting him. Finally, it had become such a big deal that Ryoma-kun had his first press conference scheduled before his round 4 match.

I had asked Ryoma-kun to let me stay at the hotel while he did his press conference, but he'd been surprisingly stubborn that I had to stay with him no matter what. So I'd followed him around, as usual, and we'd headed to the media center there at Flushing Meadows so Ryoma-kun could do his press conference. Arriving at the media center, Ryoma-kun was escorted into the room through a side door, while I was told to stand off to the side. It was the first time Ryoma-kun and I had actually been separated since we'd arrived in the US, and the anxiety it gave me was more than I expected.

As if he'd read my thoughts, Ryoma-kun had paused in the doorway and turned back towards me. Ignoring the staff around him as they instructed him to proceed into the room, he took his hat off and put it on top of my head, "It's okay. I'll be right back."

I gave him a smile of bravery that I wasn't feeling and watched as he went in through the door. Ryoma-kun was sat down in front of a room full of reporters. There was a large blue banner behind him that had the logo for the US Open as well as some sponsors, and on the table in front of him was a sign that said "Ryoma Echizen" in English. Flashes of light erupted as cameras went off while he took his seat.

Seeing it firsthand was unreal. I'd seen these things before on the television when watching the tennis tournaments back at home, but to be right there in the heart of all the action, and to see Ryoma-kun sitting there with his name on the table was different. My uncertainty flew out the window to be replaced with excitement. It was such an important moment for Ryoma-kun and I was there to witness it in person. _It was kind-of amazing..._

Quickly enough, questions came at Ryoma-kun, and he answered them all with his usual monotone short responses. I wished I understood English better so I could have understood everything, after all, this was a big milestone for Ryoma-kun, and I was right there with him, but because of the language barrier, part of me felt like I wasn't. My English had improved since we'd arrived in the US though. I'd added a lot of words to my vocabulary, and I now felt more comfortable saying certain phrases. The language definitely didn't sound foreign to me anymore either. On one of the questions, Ryoma-kun had paused, and his eyes had shifted to me for a second. I was even more surprised when he dropped my name a second later, in whatever response he was saying. Soon after that, the conference was over and Ryoma-kun was getting up from the chair and heading back towards me.

I'd wanted to ask him what he'd said about me, but upon reaching me, Ryoma-kun had yanked on my hand and tugged me after him quickly. We were rushing for some reason, but I had no idea why or where. He finally stopped at one of the hot dog stands and after buying us a couple of sodas, he sunk down on the grass under one of the trees.

"Is everything okay?" I'd finally asked.

"Fine."

I was itching to ask him all sorts of questions about the press conference, and about what he'd said about me, and how soon until he needed to warm up for his match in the stadium, but I didn't. By that point, I'd known Ryoma-kun for about two and a half years, and I knew when he wanted to be left well alone. This was definitely one of those times.

Something had bothered him, but I'd sooner get him to cut his arm off than tell me what it was.

He was just that kind of a guy...

So I'd sat there with him in silence under the tree sipping on the soda he bought me. We enjoyed a warm breeze here and there and just hung out there for about half an hour or so doing nothing.

Finally, Ryoma-kun turned towards me and took his hat off my head. I hadn't even realized I was still wearing it, "Oh!"

He'd smirked then, "I need it back for my match."

Blushing, I said, "It's not that, I just forgot I had it."

"Ah."

Ryoma-kun stood up then, and offered a hand down to me to help hoist me up from the ground. Taking his hand, he hauled me up as if I weighed nothing. Exhilarated from the quick change in altitude, I grinned.

Ryoma-kun's eyes turned dark and serious for a second and then he was nodding in the direction of the practice courts before he leaned over and retrieved his tennis bag from the ground, "Let's go warm up."

After our warm up routine, that I was feeling after a week of practice that I was getting much better at, thank you very much, we began the walk towards the Louis Armstrong Stadium where Ryoma-kun's match would be held. As we walked along I noticed Ryoma-kun squeeze the strap of his tennis bag tightly as he said, "Today I'm playing rank 18."

"Rank 18?" I asked. What did he mean?

"The 18th best player in the world," He clarified.

Oh...my eyes suddenly widened. Good grief, Ryoma-kun was nervous about a tennis match! I could barely believe it!

I grabbed his arm then, stopping his forward momentum. He gave me an irritated look that I ignored. I pushed my face into his and hesitantly whispered into his ear, "Ryoma-kun...are you nervous?"

"Che," Ryoma-kun scoffed immediately. He practically spat it into my ear.

Wow.  _He was definitely nervous._ I pulled away from him, but kept close, so we could talk privately. I doubted anybody there could understand our quickly spoken Japanese, but I wasn't going to take any chances either. This was a very private conversation. Taking in Ryoma-kun's scowl I about died. I racked my brain desperately trying to think of something to say to help him. Something to get rid of his nerves, something...

"Ryoma-kun plays against Uncle all the time, number 18 is no big deal," I settled on.

After all, Uncle was the best tennis player in the world when he retired and Ryoma-kun had been playing with him his whole life. Number 18 shouldn't be that big of a deal, should it?

His mouth tilted down for a minute, "I don't..."

It wasn't working. Some pep talk!  _Some coach I was._  Here Ryoma-kun was on the brink of playing the most important match of his life to that point and I was the worthless person that was there with him. _I sucked at supporting him._  I felt so useless and unworthy. If Uncle or Grandma were here, they'd know exactly what to say.

So, I did the only thing I could do. I made a lame, clumsy attempt at distracting him from his worries by leaning into his ear again and saying things in a low whisper that I never thought I would say to any boy, let alone Ryoma-kun, the boy that lived to bully me. Then I bit the lobe of his ear, so he would remember what I said and it would continue to distract him. Then I pulled away from him quickly.

As I retreated, Ryoma-kun's left arm snapped out and grabbed the waist of my shorts, yanking me forward so that I stumbled into his body. I caught a blush on his cheeks before my face was slammed into his chest. He dropped his head down to mine and then he said very lowly into the top of my ear, "No take backs."

Embarrassed beyond all reason at our conversation, it was all I could do to nod my head into his chest. I felt his hot breath blow down the back of my neck, and then Ryoma-kun released me and began walking towards the stadium yet again.

"Let's go, I have a match to win," He called over his shoulder.

I ran to catch up with him and then matched my run down to his quick pace. Before I knew it, we were in the stadium and Ryoma-kun was settling me into my seat for the match. Within minutes, the handshakes were done, and the match was starting.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

* * *

The round 4 match of the US Open was insane. Ryoma-kun for the first time since the tournament began, started the match with his left-hand. His game play strategy seemed to be different from the beginning, as he seemed determined to not give his opponent a single inch, even if it meant he wouldn't get to learn his skills.

It wasn't long before I figured out why Ryoma-kun was so aggressive from the beginning. The 18th best tennis player in Men's Singles was a power hitter that had almost double the years of strength, stature, age, and thusly training as Ryoma-kun did.

The match was brutal on Ryoma-kun. By the time the first set was over, Ryoma-kun was visibly tired, though he was holding his own. In fact, he'd won the first set.

I was half expecting him to collapse on the bench next to me after the first game of the second set when they were switching sides, but instead Ryoma-kun gave me a naughty grin and pointed with his fingers from his eyes to me and back.

Oh for the love of...!  _Was he seriously issuing me a challenge during his tennis match?_

As Ryoma-kun grinned again and then tugged on the ear lobe I'd bitten down on to remind him, I just about fell over.

_He had no shame!_

His opponent was sending an irritated look my way, and then he said something to Ryoma-kun that only Ryoma-kun and possibly the Chair Umpire could hear.

Ryoma-kun's attention had turned away from me and back to his opponent. Holding his red racquet out in front of himself Ryoma-kun said his favorite taunt, "Mada mada dane."

Unable to help myself, I giggled.

Ryoma-kun's words were obviously lost on his opponent, so Ryoma-kun repeated himself, but translated into English, "You still have lots to work on." Needless to say, I was personally over the moon excited that I'd understood him when he'd spoken his catchphrase in English.

The Chair Umpire however, had pointed towards Ryoma-kun and said something scolding in English that I didn't understand. I figured Ryoma-kun was being warned for heckling his opponent.

It had kind-of been worth it though, because Ryoma-kun didn't look tired anymore.

In fact, from that point it seemed that Ryoma-kun's win was effortless.

After shaking hands with everybody out on the court, Ryoma-kun jogged over to me with a huge smile on his face. I hadn't seen him look that happy since I'd met him at the airport when he'd first arrived back in Japan last summer. It was a bad sense of déjà vu, and my heart was suddenly stabbed with the pains of that first day back at school when he'd rejected me.

Stopping an inch away from stepping on my toes, Ryoma-kun leaned over my chair and taunted, "I'm ready to collect my prize."

It wasn't to be though, because Ryoma-kun was being called over by some of the press there. Before I could so much as gather up our belongings and join him, Ryoma-kun had been swept away for an after match interview, a large video camera closing in on his face and a woman with a microphone standing next to him barraging him with rapid questions in English.

I had quickly gathered up our things and awkwardly stood off to the side, keeping an eye on Ryoma-kun. I reminded myself that the badge dangling around my neck let everybody know that I had just as much of a right to be there as anybody else, even though I felt incredibly out of place.

Suddenly,  _I really wanted to go home._

After Ryoma-kun finished with his interview, he sauntered over to where I was waiting and then passed me up as he led the way out of the stadium. In silence we boarded the shuttle back to the hotel, went up the elevator to our room, and entered the door.

As I made my way into the room behind Ryoma-kun, he spun around and pushed his hand against the door, slamming it behind me. It felt like the whole floor of the hotel shook with the force of it.

Startled, I moved along the side of the door to try to back away from Ryoma-kun. His eyes bored into mine with an intensity that I'd only seen from him a few times in the years I had known him. He turned away from me as he shrugged off his tennis backpack and deposited it against the wall in the room's entryway. Next, his hat was removed and he flung it over his shoulder as he began advancing back towards me quickly.

"Wait!" I said in a panic a second before Ryoma-kun's larger body slammed mine up against the door.

"Ne...no take backs."

"But-"

To this day, I can't remember what I was going to say. Not only had Ryoma-kun's mouth melted into mine, but he'd grabbed at the backs of my thighs and hefted my legs up from the floor as he'd consumed me whole. Guiding his hands down my legs to wrap them around his waist, he grunted as he'd pushed me into the door with the full weight of his entire body. It felt like we had just merged into one person. I couldn't believe it was happening. As Ryoma-kun's mouth made a hot trail down my chin and into my collarbone, he whispered to me in English and in all my life, I'd never wanted so desperately to be bilingual. I would have given my right arm to know what he was saying to my heated flesh. Whatever he said, it sounded to my ears like sweet endearments where he was practically worshiping me.

_He could bully and torment me all he wanted if he continued to kiss me like that in the future._

I hadn't even realized that my hands were grasping desperately onto his shoulders, but as I felt his muscles moving underneath them, I became aware that I was touching him, and I began to massage gently at his upper arms, and then wove my fingers through the hair on the back of his neck. Ryoma-kun groaned into my neck for a moment before he lifted his head back up and began kissing me again in earnest.

The next thing I knew, I was laying on my back on our bed, and I could feel every inch of Ryoma-kun's body connecting with mine. Even thinking on it now I still blush. I mean really...if we hadn't had all our clothes on that day...

As he kissed me there on our bed, he was saying something into my collarbone again, and I think it might have been in Japanese that time, but I'd been so lost I hadn't even registered that he was speaking in my own language until it was almost too late...

"…all the way to the top."

"What?" I asked breathlessly as he kissed his way across the top of my chest from the left side to the right.

"You're going to-" Ryoma-kun stopped as the hotel room's phone rang, cutting off what he was going to say.

He slumped all of his weight on top of me and let out a groan of frustration. The phone rang again and Ryoma-kun cussed into my neck. After the third ring, his lips ghosted across my ear, "Let's ignore them."

I'd gulped and asked, "Are you sure you want to do that?"

Ryoma-kun had cursed again before he lifted himself up off of me and stretched across the bed to the nightstand. Picking up the phone as it rang again, he held it up to his face.

"Hello?" He said as he moved his chest back over mine and leaned his elbow on the mattress so his face hovered over mine. Finding myself suddenly super aware of Ryoma-kun's weight on top of me, I squirmed a bit in discomfort to which Ryoma-kun gave me a warning look. I froze.

"Good job today, Seishounen," I heard Uncle greet from the other end of the phone.

"You got to see my match?" Ryoma-kun asked.

"No, we've only seen the scores at the bottom of the screen all week while they show the matches in Arthur Ashe Stadium, but we're hoping to see the rest of your matches now that you're in the quarterfinals."

"Hn."

"So...how's Sakuno-chan?"

"She's fine. How's Mom?"

"She's getting better. She's still really weak, and she was not happy to hear you're sharing a room with Sakuno-chan, though the old hag thought it was funny."

I rolled my eyes as Ryoma-kun smirked down at me.

"Well, you know your mom, she's just worried you'll end up like me! HAHAHA! As if that will ever happen. You still don't even look at girls. Poor Sakuno-chan is probably frustrated! HAHAHAHA! You should just do it with that girl while you're there, you know? The old hag can't kill you if she doesn't find out, you know, Seishounen?"

Wow, I never knew Uncle was such a perv. No wonder Ryoma-kun hides everything from him.

"I'm working on it," Ryoma-kun deadpanned through the phone, to which his father laughed even harder.

I didn't know if I was more horrified that Ryoma-kun had so casually admitted to Uncle that we were doing things, or that Uncle thought it was so funny we were doing things. I mean, really? What kind of an adult...? Well...this is Uncle after all, but still...

"Your perviness is scaring Sakuno," Ryoma-kun added in a bored tone.

Uncle stopped laughing and then said, "What? Do you have me on speaker phone? Why didn't you tell me that sooner, you brat!"

"You talk so loud, I'm sure she can hear you," Ryoma-kun explained.

"Ah...naw, it's fine then."

Ryoma-kun and I shared a look at that comment that spoke volumes.

"I wish I was there with you, you know."

Ryoma-kun looked away from me at that, and gazed towards the window. Finally he said, "It's better when Sakuno comes with me."

My eyes widened in surprise.  _THAT_  was definitely up there on the last things I'd ever expected Ryoma-kun to say...

"Oh? Maybe you kids are making out after all, eh?"

"I just told you we were."

"Whatever kid, try to sound cool, but you can't fool me. So why does she need to go with you? Do you mean only for the US Open? You know there are going to be more tournaments now that you made it all the way to the quarterfinals there, right?"

I watched as the corner I could see of Ryoma-kun's mouth dropped into a frown. It looked a bit like he was glaring at the window.

"So what is it? Did she get a boyfriend there in America? You're going to support them? What are you going to do when you notice girls and she's already taken?"

I had to bite my lip from groaning out loud with the frustration of the conversation. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing! I mean...Uncle was...was...

Just...wow...how had Ryoma-kun lived with him for so long? Ryoma-kun was starting to make more sense to me and that was all sorts of weird.  _Really...it's no wonder he was always ranting in English._ I mean, I'd heard Uncle teasing before, but when he thought nobody else was listening besides Ryoma-kun, he was a lot more...well...

"It's not like that," Ryoma-kun finally said.

"So what's it like?" Uncle shot back.

Ryoma-kun was silent for a moment, and Uncle waited patiently on the other end. Finally, Ryoma-kun looked away from the window and back down at me. With a mischievous grin, he locked eyes with me as he said a couple of sentences in English.

I wanted to smack the grin off of his face. He was purposely hiding something from me, and he knew I knew it, and he liked that.

See what I mean? He's such a bully to me!

Uncle gave a hum of interest on the other end before answering Ryoma-kun back, "Don't want her to hear that, do you?"

Unfazed, Ryoma-kun continued to grin down at me, "She can hear you."

"How do you know?"

"I know."

Uncle seemed to not be bothered at all by that thought because he laughed a bit before he said, "I'll talk about it with your mom and the old hag. We have a few months to figure it out since you won't need to do anything until the Australian Open."

"Hn."

"Make sure you take Sakuno-chan out somewhere nice to thank her for putting up with you all week."

"What?"

Uncle laughed as he said a quick goodbye and disconnected the call.

Ryoma-kun glared at the receiver for a moment before he stretched out to the nightstand again and slammed it back in the cradle. Rolling off of me, he stood up from the bed, and took his shirt off.

"Time to wash my back... _Sakuno."_

Did he have to say my name  _like that?_ Like...like...he had some kind of...claim to talking to me that way? Because he certainly didn't! I gave a huff of frustration and then rolled off the bed after him.

After all, I'd promised...


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

* * *

We had one free day between Ryoma-kun's round 4 match, and his quarterfinals match. I was fairly certain that Ryoma-kun would want to head over to Flushing Meadows and spend the day watching other tennis matches, especially since the matches seemed to be getting better and more intense with each day as we progressed through the tournament and the lower level players were weeded out. So I was surprised to say the least when Ryoma-kun woke me up early in the morning and told me we'd be going to Manhattan for the day.

Beyond excited about going to Manhattan again, I'd started asking Ryoma-kun what we'd be doing there, and if we could go see this or that or do this or that.

Ryoma-kun had smirked and said something about taking me sight-seeing before muttering under his breath something about keeping his mind off of the tournament.

Outside our hotel, Ryoma-kun got us a cab that took us into downtown Manhattan. First we went to Central Park West, where Ryoma-kun paid for a rickshaw to take us through the whole park. As our guide had furiously pumped his legs on the bicycle to keep us moving he pointed out places and told us about things in English while Ryoma-kun had translated. I could tell he wasn't telling me everything since our guide talked a lot more, but I was grateful to Ryoma-kun for bothering to translate any of it for me.

I gotta say, it was pretty awesome being towed around the whole park with Ryoma-kun by my side.

After that, we took the subway to SoHo where we had lunch and then meandered the streets there checking out all the little shops. I bought myself a few outfits and then stuffed the bags into the backpack I'd brought along for our day out. Shopping in New York City was really exciting for me, and I couldn't wait to get back to Tokyo to show off my purchases to Tomo-chan.

After that, we decided to go to the Empire State Building. Ryoma-kun told me he hadn't actually been up to the observation deck there before even though he'd lived in the city for such a long time. I didn't think there would be anything more exciting that would happen the whole trip. So we got back on the subway and took it back towards uptown to go visit the famous building.

Besides the crowd we'd seen in Times Square, I hadn't seen so many people in one place. From the moment we exited the 33rd Street Station until we were in the Empire State Building's lobby, we were bombarded from all sides by people. It seemed that everybody was trying to sell us something or another, it was hard to make it all out with their quickly spoken English, but Ryoma-kun just kept on walking, so I grabbed the bottom corner of his shirt and tried to keep pace with him.

As we arrived inside the building there was a large lobby. We were directed to a long line where we were searched. Then another line where we could buy tickets, and then finally the line to wait for the elevators that would take us up to the 86th floor. All the lines seemed to drag on forever, and there were so many other people, I could understand why Ryoma-kun had never bothered to visit when he'd lived there. It was really quite involved.

I mean, really involved...it took us about an hour  _just_  to get through all the lines.

After getting in the first elevator I started getting nervous, and I felt my stomach drop into my feet as we zoomed higher and higher up in the building. We were dropped off at the 80th floor, and I was beyond disappointed that we weren't at the top yet. Still, as we walked through the 80th floor exhibits in the line for the second elevator, my excitement built, I knew we were close. Finally, we took the second elevator to the 86th floor observatory and as we pushed open the door and stepped out onto the large outdoor observatory deck, the wind pushed back at us with all of its might.

I was so grateful my hair was in its usual braids so it wouldn't get too messy. Still, my braids furiously whipped around the two of us from the strong gust of wind as we continued to step forward away from the inside of the building. Ryoma-kun of course had to complain about how my hair was too long as my braids slapped into him. It did hurt a little when they hit me, and I did actually feel a little bit bad about it, but not bad enough to cut my hair. As far as I'm concerned, my hair can never be too long. As we approached the wall and got a view of the city below, the force of the wind died a bit, but it was still fairly strong.

Complain about the long line again to get up here, I would not. It turned out to give us the perfect timing. The sun was setting and we watched as the pastel colored clouds drifted overhead. The ocean below looked fantastic and we could see all the way to the Statue of Liberty and beyond. As we made our way around the observation deck, we saw the whole metropolis of the greater New York City area spread out all around us in every direction while the sun continued to drop, giving us more and more spectacular views. We stayed longer to see the night views and then walked the whole area again. We stayed up there for so long I got cold. Actually, I got colder and colder the longer we were there. Finally, I got so cold I started shivering a bit and I really wished I'd brought along a sweater. I really didn't want to leave, no matter how cold I felt, because it was so amazing up there.

Ryoma-kun quickly noticed my shivers, and he wrapped his arm over my shoulders and pulled me close, "Are you that cold?"

Grateful for his warmth, I gave a slight nod and fought off the urge to look over at him, instead keeping my eyes fixed on the Brooklyn Bridge. As silly as it is, I really wanted to just say something bold to Ryoma-kun like, "kiss me" because, well, we were cuddling on the top of the Empire State Building with the city lit up all around us and it just seemed like that would be really romantic.

Ryoma-kun didn't exactly do romance though. Well, at least not with me. Maybe he would with some girl he really liked that was his girlfriend or when he gets married someday, or something, I don't know. I knew it was stupid that I thought that, but there you have it. I thought about it, and I wanted it. I was so pissed that I was still so head over heels in love with that stupid bully. Grrr!

As I was working up a rant in my head about how much it sucked to be me, someone started screaming. We both quickly turned our heads to the left in the direction the screaming was coming from and took a step back to see what was going on.

There was a man kneeling on the ground and the woman standing above him had leaned over and thrown her arms around him screaming and crying. My eyes widened with curiosity.

"Marriage proposal," Ryoma-kun said matter-of-factly.

Oh, I see. I nodded as I gave the couple a wistful gaze.

The man had stood up and he was placing the ring on the woman's left hand. Then they started kissing and everybody around them started clapping and whistling. Feeling uncomfortable at the PDA, I looked away. Still...

_They looked really happy._

I fleetingly wondered if I would ever be happy in love like that with some guy in the future. At that moment all I knew about the opposite sex mostly stemmed from the tennis prodigy by my side that lived to torment me. A happy romantic relationship was like an enigma to me. I couldn't conceive of it, because I couldn't imagine being with anybody except for Ryoma-kun, but I couldn't imagine being truly happy with him either. Since you know...he didn't really like me and he liked to bully me, so our relationship wasn't exactly romantic besides the times he kissed me. Not to mention Ryoma-kun was going to be a famous tennis star. If his success that week at the US Open didn't drive that point home to me, I don't know what could have. Though, I'd known that was Ryoma-kun's future the day I met him. Seeing his success that week had not be a surprise to me at all.

My future on the other hand? Well... _I had no idea._ All I really knew was that it was impossible for me to think I had a future with Ryoma-kun.

"Why are you frowning?" Ryoma-kun asked. He nodded his head in the direction of the still kissing couple and added, "Isn't this the kind of romantic stuff girls like?"

My jaw dropped with the shock of Ryoma-kun speaking to me that way, and before I could respond, he'd leaned over and connected his mouth to mine.

I gasped and took a step away from him scolding, "Ryoma-kun! We're in public!" I know, I was just fantasizing about being kissed there on the top of the Empire State Building, but that didn't mean Ryoma-kun could just kiss me like that in front of other people!

Ryoma-kun smirked as he closed the distance between us. I backed up another step, and felt my back collide with the low wall that surrounded the observation deck. The cold wind whipped up the side of the building and rushed past my back and my neck. I shivered again as Ryoma-kun stepped closer yet again. He surrounded me with his larger body and wrapped me up in a cocoon of warmth, well, besides the cold wind at my back...

"We're as far away as we could be from anybody that would care. Besides, nobody is watching," Ryoma-kun said before he dropped his head down and kissed me again.

My heart seized tightly with emotions that poured out of me like rolling waves as I kissed him back. I couldn't believe we were on top of the Empire State Building at night, kissing in front of all the people up there. Even if they weren't looking...we weren't alone.

_It was crazy..._

* * *

The next day we slept in since Ryoma-kun's match was in the afternoon. After a light lunch, we took the shuttle over to Flushing Meadows and spent about an hour volleying on one of the practice courts before we grabbed some cold sodas and hung out under a shaded tree for a little while.

Ryoma-kun had laid on his back, his hat covering his face as he relaxed, and I watched him silently, wondering how his match would go.

"Hey."

I was startled out of my musings as Ryoma-kun called to me. He was talking to me from under his hat! I thought he was sleeping?

"What?" I asked.

"Do that...thing again."

"What thing?"

"You know...that thing."

I rolled my eyes. Yes, you know...mind reading was totally at the top of my skill sets. Ryoma-kun was so irritating sometimes. "I don't know what you mean," I said.

He tipped his hat to the side of his face then, just enough for one of his warm hazel eyes to meet mine, "That thing you did the other day before my match." He grabbed his ear lobe for emphasis and gave me a pointed look.

I blushed and looked away protesting, "Ryoma-kun!"

"Sakuno," He practically purred my name as he set his hat aside and sat up, leaning close to me. Brushing his lips against my ear he said, "I need your support." He leaned in closer and I almost fell on my back as I leaned away from him. Undaunted, he continued to lean closer and closer. He climbed over me and then barely wet the tip of my earlobe with his tongue before he added, "Tell me more about this and that..."

I swallowed back a huff of frustration at his antics and instead did as instructed.

_I really did want him to win._

As I pulled back from him after biting his earlobe, he surprised me by grabbing the back of my neck with his left hand and kissing me fiercely. A moment later he was standing above me with a satisfied smirk on his face. Leaning over he put his arms under my armpits and hefted me up from the ground effortlessly.

"Mou," I complained under my breath at his manhandling.

Leaning down Ryoma-kun fetched his hat and his tennis bag from the grass and then we began walking toward the huge Arthur Ashe Stadium for Ryoma-kun's match.

I wondered how high of a rank the player he was playing was that day since his 4th round opponent had been ranked #18.

Entering the stadium, I was overwhelmed with how large it was and grateful that since I was there with Ryoma-kun that I had such a good court-side seat. I couldn't believe how many people were there to watch the match. No wonder Ryoma-kun had insisted on not thinking about tennis the day before. The pressure he must have been experiencing had to have been enormous. Not to mention he was playing against the top adult tennis players in the whole world! Even I felt intimidated, and I was just sitting there!

I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the famous tennis player that came onto the court to play against Ryoma-kun.

OH MY...

He was...he was...!

_Ryoma-kun was about to go head to head with the number one tennis player in the whole world!_

No wonder we were in the huge stadium so late in the day with more tennis fans that you could possibly dream of numbering surrounding us!

I watched as the two warmed up and then shook hands. Ryoma-kun said something that judging by his look was probably super cocky. I couldn't believe Ryoma-kun was trash talking the number one tennis player in the world! Did he have a death wish?

Sure enough, the match started out powerfully, both players testing their opponent to see where they were at.

Ryoma-kun did surprisingly well, shocking the whole audience into a stunned silence. I kind of felt like I was the only person in the whole stadium cheering on Ryoma-kun against the world favorite. Not to mention most tennis fans probably hadn't ever heard of Ryoma-kun before this since this tournament was his professional debut.

After two sets, the score was tied, 1 to 1 and I wondered if Ryoma-kun would really be able to pull off winning against the world number one at his first big tournament.

Slowly but surely though, the world number one, began to show his true strengths. It was as if I was watching a reversal. Ryoma-kun was usually the player that slowly judged his opponent before throwing their skills back in their face, however, it seemed that this time that very scenario was happening to Ryoma-kun.

The match dragged on, but finally, Ryoma-kun was defeated. As the stadium burst into cheers, not only for their star, but also for Ryoma-kun's great promise, I cheered along as I watched the players shake hands. Ryoma-kun had a happy smile on his face and said something that seemed to take his opponent aback slightly. I imagined him saying his catchphrase or something else equally challenging and smiled to myself at his antics.

After a brief court-side interview Ryoma-kun and I left the stadium, took the shuttle back to the hotel and went into the room.

Closing the door behind us, Ryoma-kun grinned at me, "I played the number one player in the world today!"

Unable to help myself at his uncharacteristic excitement, I smiled back, "Yes, you did."

"I want to play him some more."

I smiled again, "I'll bet you do, Ryoma-kun."

Only Ryoma-kun would take a defeat as such a big challenge. I was sure there was a fire already burning up inside of him.

I kicked my shoes off and flipped over onto our bed with a sigh. I was so tired! It felt like it had been a really long day.

"So now what are we going to do?" I asked. After all, Ryoma-kun didn't have to play anymore matches, so did that mean we could go home?

Ryoma-kun stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked at the dark sky and the lit up airport outside our window, "Watch the other matches, tour the city some more. Whatever. We have almost a week before we fly home."

"So we aren't going home early?" I asked.

"Why would we want to do that?"

I shrugged, feeling homesick again as the phone rang.

Ryoma-kun picked it up and sat on the bed. I rolled over so I could hear better.

"Hello?"

"That was a great match today, Seishounen!"

"So it was on the TV today?"

"Yep. We all watched you play your heart out against the king."

"Hnnn..."

"You ready to play him again?"

"Yup."

I heard Uncle laugh, "That's good. The old hag wants to know if you're still up to play in the Nationals when you guys get back."

"Yes."

"Good, good...so how's Sakuno-chan?"

Ryoma-kun spun around to look at me for a moment before he said, "Homesick."

"Ah, yeah...you guys have been there for a while. I don't think she's ever been away from home for such a long time."

Ryoma-kun reached over and yanked on one of my braids as he said, "She better get used to it."

What did that mean?  _He was kidding, right?_  I shot Ryoma-kun a hateful look for pulling on my hair as Uncle laughed through the phone, "So what are you two going to do the rest of the trip? Did you take Sakuno-chan out on some dates yet? Did you go sightseeing?"

Ryoma-kun rolled his eyes, "We went to Central Park, SoHo and the Empire State Building yesterday."

"You did?" Uncle asked. His tone conveyed that he was completely surprised.

"Sakuno wanted to go."

"So you took her out, just like that?"

Ryoma-kun closed his eyes for a moment, but didn't comment.

"Okay, okay, I believe you. You took the coach's granddaughter out for a date. I'm just a bit surprised."

Again, Ryoma-kun remained silent.

"Well kid,  _make me proud."_

"I'm not a perv like you, you stupid old man!" Ryoma-kun shot back right away.

I giggled into my hand at that while Ryoma-kun sprouted a slight blush across his cheeks.

"We're going to dinner, see you when we get home."

Without waiting for a response, Ryoma-kun hung up the phone.


	15. Chapter 15

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

* * *

Ryoma-kun and I did spend the rest of that week touring around New York City and watching matches at Flushing Meadows. We even went to the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge. I enjoyed the sightseeing. On the days we went to Flushing Meadows, we watched the semifinals and the finals matches.

As much as Ryoma-kun seemed to normally go out of his way to bully me, and as much as he teased me while we were alone there in New York City, I found that being forced into his company for such a long time...really wasn't all that bad.

Which again...scared me. Liking Ryoma-kun was scary on its own. Liking him more, was even worse.

As we flew back to Tokyo, I tried to psyche myself out for a long falling out between us that I was sure was pending. After all the time we'd spent together and all the kissing, Ryoma-kun was sure to send me a message that it didn't mean anything as soon as we were surrounded by our usual associations. As far as I was concerned, it was inevitable. I was in for a world of hurt. Who knew how long it would be before he would even talk to me again?

Just doing the math made me want to throw up from the very thought of it. Considering that he usually ignored me for about a week after spending a couple of hours with me, I was possibly looking at a freeze out from him until the new year with how much time we spent together in New York. I didn't know if I could bear it. It put me in a really bad mood for the whole long flight back to Tokyo.

The Nationals that year were upon us almost as soon as we returned to school, and I was grateful for the distraction of them. It got me away from thinking about Ryoma-kun and how much I wouldn't be with him. So I packed up once again and prepared myself for watching a lot of tennis matches. It was a wonder I wasn't burned out on tennis after going to the US Open, but I was actually a little bit excited about going to the Nationals championship. It was our last year in middle school and I was determined to make the most of it. The best part was that I'd have my usual friends watching with me. Tomo-chan, and the boys. The worst part was that, like every tournament that year, all the senpai from when we were first years and second years wouldn't be there. They were off playing their own high school tournaments. Ryoma-kun was the captain of the tennis team and while the Seigaku team had a lot of great new players we'd collected over the past two years, nothing had ever really been the same as when we were first year students.

After arriving at the tournament stadium, Tomo-chan and I decided to tour the grounds while the team signed in and warmed up. Ryoma-kun was already in top ignoring my existence form, and I was trying valiantly not to let it get to me that he was the same as he'd always been, even after we'd spent so much time together in New York, and done so many things there.

Tomo-chan was jabbering on about how excited she was about the tournament while I kept my eyes on the lookout for a soda machine. I was really hoping to get something cold to drink since it was blistering hot that day. As I was scanning the area and Tomo-chan was chatting away, she suddenly started squealing at me, "LOOK! LOOK! It's Kintaro-san!"

Interested in seeing my favorite player and kind-of friend from our rival school, I'd looked in the direction Tomo-chan was pointing at, only to see an energetic Kinatro-kun waving at us animatedly. Just seeing him up to his usual antics cheered me up.

I waved back.

"Hi Sakuno-chaaaaaaaan!" He called out across the way.

I grinned and waved with a bit more vigor, and called back quite a bit quieter than he had, but loud enough for him to hear me across the distance, "Hi Kintaro-kun!"

He talked briefly with one of his teammates that was walking with him before he jogged over to us.

"Did you bring more treats, Sakuno-chan?" He started out with.

I should have known. It was almost tradition at this point - that Kintaro-kun would see me and ask for food. Maybe next year when we're in high school, I'll make something just for him. I gave him a secretive smile which of course, instantly gave away that I had indeed made some treats for the tennis team.

Kintaro-kun began excitedly jumping up and down, "OOOhhh! I want some! Please share with me, Sakuno-chan!"

"Of course you can have some, Kintaro-san. Sakuno made some just for you, didn't you Sakuno?" Tomo-chan interjected.

I wanted to deny it, because I actually hadn't, I'd just made some for the whole team in my way of supporting them at their big tournament. While I was sort-of entertaining the thought of making something just for him for next year that didn't mean I'd thought of doing it that year! I didn't know why Tomo-chan would say something like that to Kintaro-kun. Still, I kept quiet, it wouldn't do to deny it.

_"You DID?"_  Kintaro-kun asked as he stepped closer towards me, his excitement level increasing exponentially as the conversation continued.

I flushed at his sudden closeness and took a slight step back, "Come visit me at our seats when you have a few minutes, that's where I left all the food."

"OKAY! I will! So...hey...where's Koshimae?" Kintaro-kun began to look around before he added, "Isn't he always with you? I thought you were Koshimae's girlfriend?"

I winced as Tomo-chan jumped in, "Ryoma-sama and Sakuno are just friends!"

Kintaro-kun stopped looking around and gave me a serious look for a moment before he asked quietly, "Really?"

I laughed a bit in embarrassment.  _Why did he sound so serious all the sudden?_  It was so unlike him. A little weirded out by the conversation, I lamely explained, "My grandmother also coached Ryoma-kun's papa, so our families are old friends."

"Heeeeey...that's interesting."

Tomo-chan was nudging me in the side and I suddenly felt as if maybe Tomo-chan was trying to set us up, and I didn't know what to think about something like that. Kintaro-kun's teammates called out to him then and he turned to look back at them for a minute before he turned back to us girls.

"I have to go get our registration done now, but I'll see you later, Sakuno-chan."

With that, he was gone.

As we made to walk around a bit more, Tomo-chan was instantly upon me. She grabbed my hand and practically jumped up and down, "Sakuno-chan! He is  _so cute!_ Didn't I tell you that last year? I think he likes you tooooooo," She drew out too as if it was the most exciting thing in the universe. "Luckyyyyyyyyy!" She added just as happily.

"Tomo-chan," I pleaded, "Please don't try to set me up."

"Set you up? He already likes you! He'd already noticed you're always with Ryoma-sama, didn't he? Plus, he likes your food  _and_  he was really interested when I told him you aren't dating Ryoma-sama! He  _definitely_ likes you!"

At Tomo-chan's speech I wanted to pound my head into one of the nearby trees to vent my frustration. Kinatro-kun was cute...and nice...and funny. He was also a really good tennis player and I liked his kind-of wild side, but like it or not, I at least felt like I was in some kind of something type of a relationship with Ryoma-kun. I didn't think it was okay to be showing interest in other boys, I felt like that would be leading them on. I mean, I liked Ryoma-kun, even if Ryoma-kun didn't like me. Well, I dunno, on second thought, maybe it was okay, since Ryoma-kun didn't like me.

The thing is though, that Tomo-chan just didn't understand. I guess the real problem was that I needed to get over Ryoma-kun, but I didn't know how I was going to do that while Ryoma-kun kept kissing me.

Although, that got me thinking... _maybe if_  I got a boyfriend all this messed up stuff with Ryoma-kun would stop? Did I want that? I gotta say, at that point, that whole concept was new and weird to me. I also kind of felt like Ryoma-kun's bullying knew no bounds so that even if I  _did_  get a boyfriend Ryoma-kun would probably not leave me alone. After all, our whole thing was just another way he bullied me. Like right then, he was actively ignoring me because he is a bully. I gave the whole idea of getting over Ryoma-kun by dating Kintaro-kun a real moment of thought and imagined how it would be if Kintaro-kun was my boyfriend. After an overly silly and brief fantasy of being happy together I remembered the most important thing about Kintaro-kun...

_What about the distance?_ Kintaro-kun lived in Osaka. How would we be able to see each other? It would never work.

"I don't think it's a good idea," I settled on saying.

"He's a real cutie Sakuno, you should snap him up before some other girl gets to him."

"Tomo-chan!" I couldn't believe the way she talked about boys sometimes. My bestest friend forever...she just didn't get it when it came to me and boys.

Besides...I didn't really like Kinatro-kun like that. Pathetic little me only likes Ryoma-kun like that. I think I've only ever really liked Ryoma-kun like that. Ugh. My love life completely sucks!

_What a cruel fate to be so attached to a boy that bullies you constantly...right?_

After we got some cold drinks, we headed back to the stadium. As we reached the spectators' stands and met back up with the rest of the Seigaku supporters and the rest of the team, Tomo-chan sat down next to me and pointed across the way where the Shitenhoji team was gathered.

"Look! There he is!"

I smacked her hand down quickly as I blushed, "Stop it!"

Horio-kun came up behind us and asked loudly, "Who are you pointing at?"

I flushed further as the whole team's attention was suddenly upon us.

_Horio-kun that loud mouth!_

Tomo-chan had cooed at his question answering back happily, "Ooooh you know...just Sakuno's  _future boyfriend!"_

"Tomo-chan!" I exclaimed in warning.

"Oh just admit it that you like him!"

"I told you before, I don't know if I do or not!" I exclaimed hotly.

Everybody gave me a shocked look.

"Mou," I added under my breath, as I turned my head away from everyone.  _Great._  I was now feeling completely embarrassed beyond all reason.

"Mada mada dane."

Everybody's heads whipped over to the current Seigaku team captain.

I didn't know if I should be happy or upset that Ryoma-kun was talking to me. Of course, even though he was talking to me, it was only so he could purposely make fun of me in front of everybody. What was the deal with that blank look he was giving me?

_Why did he just never, ever, ever care?_

With a huff, I grabbed my bag up from off the floor and began making my way out of the stadium as I fought off the tears threatening to burst out of my eyes in an uncontrollable flood.

"Sakuno!" Tomo-chan called after me.

I continued to walk out of the stadium, but slowed my pace for Tomo-chan to catch up with me. As she reached me, she placed a tentative hand on my arm, "Ne, Sakuno. I'm sorry. I know you hate it when Ryoma-sama says that to you."

I raised my eyes up to the ceiling and sniffled back a few sobs, "T-Tomo-chan..." I barely choked out.

Ugh. I couldn't even talk to Tomo-chan I was so upset.

Wrapping an arm around my shoulders my best friend forever steered me towards the ladies' room. Without a word she led me to the sinks and wrapped me up in a big hug as I sobbed into her shoulder.

I cried. I cried and cried and cried. I cried liked I'd cried the first morning back at school I'd seen Ryoma-kun after the first time he'd kissed me. I cried like my life was over and I wanted to die from epic failure. I cried like there was nothing left to be happy about forever and ever and ever. After New York, even after expecting him to ignore me, and tease me, the pain it gave me when he actually did was still shocking. Adding to that, him humiliating me in front of everybody...it was just too much for me.

Tomo-chan tsked as she patted my back soothingly. As my sobs finally began to subside she said, "Sakuno...I have no idea why you are so unhappy. What is it that you aren't telling me?"

At her question, I was reminded once again of... _everything_ , and I began anew with big sobbing wails of torment. It just wasn't fair that I had this other world, and that it wasn't real when I so desperately wanted it to be. It was so impossible to really be with Ryoma-kun, and it was just overwhelmingly depressing.

Tomo-chan started crying with me then, "Sakuno!" She cried out as we wailed together there in the bathroom.

I grasped onto her sleeves as I dropped my head between us and watched my tears splash onto the floor. Only such a good friend would cry with you through your pain, and in that I found hope that I was worth something in someone's eyes.

Slowly, I began to calm myself down. Finally, I looked back up at Tomo-chan and let out a half laugh at her miserable looking face. I figured I looked about 100 times worse for wear, and that elicited another giggle from me. Tomo-chan gave me a wry smile before she let out a giggle of her own and said, "Damn, you look messed up!"

I laughed outright then and she joined me as I said, "You do too!"

We both smiled at each other and hugged tightly for a minute. Then we both started grabbing paper towels. Wetting them with the cool sink water, we both began dabbing at our eyes and faces, trying to wash away the evidence of our tears.

As Tomo-chan dug through my bag for her makeup bag and began retouching her makeup, I decided to put a little bit on myself to hide the fact that I'd been crying in the bathroom for about an hour with my friend.

As Tomo-chan applied her lip gloss and checked herself out from side to side in the mirror she said, "If there's something going on with Ryoma-sama and he's hurt you this bad...I'm going to kill him."

I shook my head as I contemplated taking my braids out to re-braid them. My hair was a disheveled mess. "Ryoma-kun is just Ryoma-kun," I said.

Tomo-chan tossed her lip gloss back down into her cosmetic case and gave me a hard look, "I don't believe you."

I closed my eyes with sadness and sighed before I ripped the ties of my braids down and began unweaving my hair with my fingers. "I don't know what to tell you."

Tomo-chan frowned then as she stepped over to me and helped me comb out my braids, "I will seriously kill him."

Beginning to feel upset all over again, I took it a deep shaky breath and whispered brokenly, "Can we...not talk about Ryoma-kun?"

Tomo-chan bent over and rummaged my hairbrush out of my bag as she said, "Fine, I won't talk about Ryoma-sama. But! I'm setting you up with that cutie Kintaro-kun if it's the last thing I do at this tournament!"

She began brushing the ends of my hair out as I moaned out a protesting, "Noooo!"

* * *

About half an hour later, we returned back to the Seigaku section, my hair now in a long wavy ponytail down the center of my back, and a lot more melancholy to my spirit.

"Where have you girls been?" Horio-kun asked in a horrified tone as soon as we arrived. "You've missed a lot!"

I ignored him while Tomo-chan gave him some snappy comeback about how it was none of his business. I tried to focus on the match and not the blank stare Ryoma-kun was sending my way as we watched the tail end of the first of the single's matches. So far, the score was tied.

The match ended with Seigaku in the lead and with that, lunch recess was called. I leaned over to retrieve all the large lunch bentos I'd made for the team. As I was pulling out the boxes and stacking them on top of each other out in the open, I was greeted from the row below me.

"Hi Sakuno-chan!"

Considering the accent and the informal address, I figured it was Kintaro-kun, but I glanced up from my task all the same and gave him a cheerful grin, "Hi Kintaro-kun."

"I came to get yummy food from you, like you promised."

For some reason I found the way he was talking to me and his excitement about eating my cooking refreshing. After the horrible morning I'd had, it practically made me want to glow with warmth and happiness. So I handed him my smaller personal bento box.

Kintaro-kun instantly took the cover off and took a deep breath of the spread, "This smells fantastic!"

I watched as Kintaro-kun practically inhaled all the food he ate it so quickly, while still somehow managing to tell me how good it all was between bites.

Horio-kun and much of the rest of the team came by then to get some lunch treats from me as well. I began opening up the larger bento boxes to pass out all the different finger foods I had prepared for the whole team.

As Kintaro-kun finished eating he grinned up at me from the row below and handed back my empty bento box.

"Thank you Sakuno-chan! Will there be more tomorrow?" Kintaro-kun asked.

"I'll make one special just for you," I offered.

His smile dropped for a moment as he asked, "This one wasn't for me? Didn't your friend say this morning...?"

Kintaro-kun trailed off at the confused look I was giving him, which made me more confused. So I thought through what he said a second time...

OH.

_Oops._

I scratched the back of my head with a bit of embarrassment as I said lamely, "Tomo-chan exaggerates sometimes."

"Oh, I see, I see. So you didn't make a special bento just for me?" Kintaro-kun asked.

I bit my lower lip and sheepishly shook my head.

He grinned a bit at that. Standing up, he moved his head in close to mine and whispered, "We'll have to work on that."

Oh...oh my...he was so close all the sudden...he was so fast...

Maybe Tomo-chan was right...

I gave him a questioning look as he moved away from me and then shrugged awkwardly.

I looked up in surprise as I felt someone jump down from the row above me to right next to me. Ryoma-kun stood there glaring down at Kintaro-kun. He tapped his bright red racquet against his shoulder and asked Kintaro-kun in a bored tone, "What are you doing here?"

"Koshimae! Don't be like that! We're old friends by now, aren't we?"

Ryoma-kun shrugged noncommittally.

_Typical._

"Koshimae!" Kintaro-kun whined at Ryoma-kun's usual lack of response.

I rolled my eyes and turned my body away from Ryoma-kun and towards Tomo-chan whom was sitting on the other side of me.

Tomo-chan gave me a raised eyebrow of interest at the boys conversing next to me.

I frowned, showing her I clearly disapproved of the presence that was now right next to me. I was aware the two boys were bickering, (well, it was more like Kintaro-kun was whining and Ryoma-kun was delivering one word bored replies) but I consciously blocked out their conversation while Tomo-chan watched them with ever widening eyes.

"Tomo-chan, what are you doing next weekend?" I asked, trying to start our own conversation.

Tomo-chan began gesturing behind me at that point, as if to say, 'Why aren't you listening to what they're saying? This is good stuff!'

I shook my head at her, trying to remind her that I wanted nothing to do with boys at that time.

"Sakuno-chan!" Kintaro-kun said, once again pulling my attention back towards the redhead.

I swiveled forward and pointedly ignored Ryoma-kun who was still hovering closely by my side. It was actually kind-of pissing me off how I kept feeling his legs brush against mine. Well, since I was so mad at him. Sadly, I usually enjoy feeling him.  _Ugh! That frustrating tennis prince!_

"Hm?" I asked Kinatro-kun.

"Koshimae and I are on the All Japan team together, so doesn't that make us teammates?"

I blinked down at Kintaro-kun. What was he talking about?

Ryoma-kun pushed his finger into my side then and explained, "That camp."

I ignored him and said, "I don't know, I guess."

"Koshimae says I can't stay here unless I'm part of the team! But Koshimae and I ARE on the same team! You see?" Kintaro-kun whined.

Irritated, I turned to Ryoma-kun and glared up at him, "Kintaro-kun is here as my guest."

Ryoma-kun raised an eyebrow at me and then looked down towards Kintaro-kun as if to say, 'That guy? Whatever for?'

I smiled at Kintaro-kun again and said, "Don't mind Ryoma-kun, he's just a bully. You can stay here as much as you want."

Kintaro-kun smiled at me again and said offhandedly, "I'm so happy he's not your boyfriend."

I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or cry at his comment, but Ryoma-kun instantly let out a growl of irritation. It was pretty shocking to hear it.

Kintaro-kun must have missed it because he grinned again and moved forward indicating he wanted to tell me something private. My mind still spinning with questions as to what Ryoma-kun's growl could mean, I began to lean forward towards Kintaro-kun. A second later, Ryoma-kun's racquet swept between our faces, stopping barely ½ a centimeter from Kintaro-kun's face.

"Don't touch Sakuno."

Surprised again, I moved back from Ryoma-kun's racquet as Kintaro-kun pouted and whined again, "Sakuno-chan is right about you, Koshimae!"

WOW! FINALLY! Someone else that saw through Ryoma-kun! I just about stood up and did a happy dance. I felt like someone was really on my side for once. I wanted to jump to the row below and throw my arms around Kintaro-kun.

Of course, I didn't do any of those things, but I'm pretty sure I sent a glowing smile Kintaro-kun's way.

"Let's go out on a date," Kintaro-kun said suddenly.

Surprised, my mouth dropped open in shock. Tomo-chan started squealing excitedly at my side while Ryoma-kun said, "She can't."

"Why not?" Tomo-chan quickly shot Ryoma-kun's way.

I glanced at up Ryoma-kun from the sides of my eyes wondering why he was turning down Kintaro-kun for me. Was he doing the same thing he'd done with Ryoga-nii-san and turning him down for me because he didn't think I knew how to say no?

"Kintaro-kun," I said patiently, "You live too far away, don't you?"

Kintaro-kun frowned, "You're right. I do." He looked over his shoulder back at his school teammates and then back at me, "I'll have to do something about that."

Tomo-chan started squealing at how romantic and awesome that was.

Speechless, I flushed with embarrassment. Did he really mean that? What was he going to do? Move to Tokyo? Could he even do that? What about his family?

"I'll figure it all out and come ask you again. Wait for me, okay?" Kintaro-kun said and then, just like that, he'd ran off back towards his team.

Ryoma-kun muttered something under his breath before he sat down next to me. I tried to ignore the fact that the side of his body was touching the side of mine.

_I didn't think I'd ever felt his presence so strongly before that._


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Sixteen

* * *

What really disappointed me about the National tournament that last year of middle school was that I didn't get to talk to Kintaro-kun for the rest of the tournament. I don't know why he never came by to see me over the next two days, and I don't know why he was never around when I went to visit him. For some reason, we just couldn't connect again. I wondered for a little while if it was because he'd asked me to wait until we could date, but I doubted something like that would keep him away since he seemed like such a free spirited kind of guy. I really expected that he'd already forgotten he'd even said such a thing to me.

Ryoma-kun hadn't ignored me for the rest of the tournament, which kind-of surprised me, but he hadn't really been around much either. When I did see him, he was practically glued to my side, though generally quiet. I also noticed that I wasn't able to go anywhere without some of the Seigaku team members following me around, as if they had to know what I was doing every second of the day. It was pretty annoying. I mean, seriously? What was so interesting about little old me?  _NOTHING._ Were they upset about a rival team member asking me out? Were they trying to keep us apart? Just the idea of that rankled me. Not that I really wanted to date Kintaro-kun anyway, but  _STILL_...it was my business and not anybody else's!

With that, our last middle school Nationals Tournament was over, Ryoma-kun had, of course led Seigaku to yet another victory and then we were all back to the usual school routine. Which, may I remind you included daily bentos for Ryoma-kun. Working on projects and English lessons with Ryoma-kun, and being jabbed in the back of my knee with Ryoma-kun's tennis racquet at least once a week accompanied by a list of my faults. On top of that was the usual icing on the cake I'd become accustomed to over the last year and a half where on occasion he'd whisk me off for make out sessions and then ignore me for a week.

Fall came and went along with the cultural festival, and winter began to set in. We were having our first light snowfall of the year when Ryoma-kun called me and demanded that I come over to his house.

_No, he never changes._

It literally happened like this:

My cell rang. I looked at the caller ID and I noticed it was Ryoma-kun. I wondered for a moment what he wanted. I wondered for another moment if I wanted to bother talking to him. I decided to answer...

"Hello?"

"Come over NOW!"

Then the call disconnected.

Silence.

I know...it's great...right?

So I got dressed in my warmer snow clothes that I only dug out of my closet a few times a year and geared up so I could walk over to Ryoma-kun's house wondering what disaster had him calling me over to his place in the evening while it was snowing outside.

At least the power was still on...maybe his parents left him home alone or something? THAT was when he'd usually have me go over there...

As I approached the door, Ryoma-kun opened the door abruptly. Wow. I hadn't even knocked yet! Caught off guard, I took a step back. Then feeling the warmth of the house wafting outside and I unconsciously took a step towards the heat.

Ryoma-kun thrust both hands out holding a little baby awkwardly.

Huh?

I grabbed for the infant being thrust at me, worried that Ryoma-kun would drop it with how strangely he was holding it.

"Oooohhh pooor baby," I cooed as I blew a soft breath of air across the baby's face. The baby smiled and kicked it's feet out in delight.

As I moved into the entryway and kicked my shoes off with my feet I asked Ryoma-kun, "Who's this?"

Ryoma-kun gave the baby a dirty look before he pointed to it, " _THIS_  is Mai. She's my cousin's baby."

I shrugged my coat off around holding Mai-chan with a bit of Ryoma-kun's help as I blinked in wonder at his response, "Which one?"

Ryoma-kun gave me a funny look for a second before he dropped my coat on top of the shoe cabinet, "Nanako. Who else?"

"Ryoga-nii-san?"

Ryoma-kun rolled his eyes, "Still haven't forgotten about him?"

"How could I?" I muttered under my breath as I shrugged.

Ryoma-kun looked at me with serious eyes for a moment and then shook his head and led the way into the family room. As he slumped into the couch he said, "We have to watch Mai. I don't know until how long."

I wanted to scream at him, 'We? Why we? What do I have to do with it?' But...of course I didn't say any of that, I might think those things, but I never really say them. I guess I'm just too nice.

That's when I learned that I really should have been paying more attention to the baby in my arms, because just as I was about to ask Ryoma-kun more about her, Mai-chan decided instead to open her little mouth and start wailing at the top of her lungs.

Ryoma-kun put his hands over his ears and vented, "She's  _always_ crying!"

I pulled her closer to my chest and began to bounce her up and down as I made consoling noises. Between coos I said, "She wasn't crying when you opened the door."

Ryoma-kun gave me a look that clearly implied he had no idea why she hadn't been crying then either.

Mai-chan continued wailing at the top of her lungs, at this point big sobbing tears were starting to pour out of her eyes. She sounded so pathetic and distraught that I felt like I wanted to cry with her.

Instead, I started going through the baby checklist...

I lifted her up and sniffed around her diaper. Smelled fine. So...probably not a dirty diaper.

"Did she sleep yet, Ryoma-kun?" I asked.

Ryoma-kun took his hands off of his ears for a moment, "What?"

"Did she sleep?"

He put his hands back over his ears while he nodded.

So I headed off to the kitchen in search of baby bottles Nanako-nee-san hopefully left for us.

There were a few bottles lined up on the counter, so I quickly grabbed one and put it in Mai-chan's screaming open mouth. She spat it out and cried harder, if that was even possible.

Ryoma-kun appeared behind me then and said into my ear over my shoulder, "I already fed her."

Surprised I spun around to face him and asked, "You did?"

He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded, "Nanako brought her over while she was sleeping. After she woke up, I fed her a whole bottle. She was okay for a little while and then she just started crying. She only stopped for a few minutes when you showed up."

Part of me wondered if I'd heard Ryoma-kun correctly! He fed Mai-chan!? Wow...babies really brought it out in him...didn't they? I wanted to give him Mai-chan so I could go laugh my butt off at him in the bathroom, where he couldn't hear me and get mad,  _or even_...but instead I bit my lip and held back the giggles.

Ryoma-kun seemed to see through me though because he gave me an irritated look anyways and said, "It's not funny."

Which, of course, made me want to laugh more. I tried to keep my giggles in, I really did, but I just couldn't help it. As I imagined Ryoma-kun watching over a sleeping baby, then feeding her, and then calling me up frantically to come over because she wouldn't stop crying, the whole image of him taking care of a baby got funnier by the second. Ryoma-kun's dark irritated look got more and more intense by the second as well and sure enough I reached my limit. Unable to hold it in for another moment, I burst out in a fit of giggles. Ryoma-kun looked like he wanted to strangle me, which made it even funnier and I threw my head back, howling with laughter.

Mai-chan's screams stopped abruptly and I looked down at the baby in my arms who was giving me a curious look with wide, surprised, dewy eyes.

I giggled some more and then began to make fun of Ryoma-kun to Mai-chan. Mai-chan seemed to delight in this activity, so I carried her back towards the living room and sat on the couch, cuddling her up between my legs and my chest I talked with her and told her funny stories about Ryoma-kun.

I didn't know where Ryoma-kun had gone off to until I heard a door slam upstairs and I jumped in fright.

At the sharp sound, Mai-chan began crying again immediately, and I shot an angry look towards the general direction of Ryoma-kun's bedroom above us. Ryoma-kun the big bad bully can dish it out, but apparently he can't take it, even when it's just to a baby that didn't understand anyways.

_Jerk._

So I started telling her more stories and she quieted down once again. After a needed diaper change a while after that, she finally nodded off to sleep. I turned the television on and flipped through the channels while I propped Mai-chan up in my arms while she slept. She was sooooooo cute when she was sleeping. It was actually kind of amazing being able to take care of such a precious little person.

Not long after I turned the television on, Ryoma-kun reemerged from his room. I heard him stomp down the stairs and walk around the sofa I was sitting on. He stood in front of the television blocking my view from the movie I'd found.

He glared down at me and Mai-chan for a few moments before he dropped his crossed arms down to his sides with a defeated look. I watched in shock and amazement as he approached us. He rested one of his knees against the side of my lap and leaned over me, dropping a light kiss against my lips he muttered, "I can't stay mad at you."

I almost burst out laughing. To this date, it may still be the most unexpected thing he's ever said to me in all our years of interactions. Well, maybe it's a close second to the marriage talk in his bathroom we had that night during our second year of middle school. Can't exactly forget  _that_  crazy conversation...

I shook my head at him as I reminded myself not to get caught up in Ryoma-kun's nice words that he'd throw my way here and there. It never changed anything. I  _absolutely_  couldn't take it to heart.

He grabbed the remote from my hand before he spun around and flopped down right next to me on the sofa. Throwing his other arm around my shoulders, he flipped through the channels until he stopped on a shounen anime series.

"I didn't know you liked this kind of show," I commented in a little over a whisper. I really didn't want to wake up the baby.

Ryoma-kun had merely shrugged off my comment, neither confirming nor denying that he enjoyed the program.

After the shounen anime episode ended, Ryoma-kun flipped through the channels again until he stopped on a sports channel. We watched a baseball game and I was so bored I must have nodded off to sleep, because the next thing I knew, I was waking up to a crying baby.

I opened my eyes in a bit of a panic only to see that Nanako-nee-san was standing over me, bouncing Mai-chan up and down in her arms and cooing at her to settle down. I was vaguely aware of the arms behind me pulling me back so that I didn't get up when I'd first tried to jump up at Mai-chan crying.

"Thank you for watching Mai for me," Nanako-nee-san said softly.

I blinked up at her in slight confusion still trying to figure out exactly what was going on. I've always been a slow thinker when I first wake up, so as usual it took my brain a little while to catch up with my surroundings.

"Did Ryoma give you any help with her?" Nanako-nee-san asked.

The arms around me that I was now finally becoming fully aware of shifted and I realized who was holding me as I felt the familiarity of Ryoma-kun digging his face into the back of my neck. He let out a soft groan of protest at the noise.

As he cuddled into my back, I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment. It was the first time anybody that knew us had seen the two of us making any sort of bodily contact. My heart started to pound frantically in my ears.  _Would she realize we did these kind of things often?_

I tried to push against him to get up from the couch then, but instead he pulled me tighter and muttered at me to, "Stop moving."

Nanako-nee-san giggled then and with a wide grin said, "I took a picture of the three of you sleeping there when I first came in. You looked like a perfect little family! It was as if I was seeing into the future."

Mortified beyond all reason I suddenly found my voice, and chastised her in the most scandalized tone I was capable of,  _"Nanako-nee-san!"_

Ryoma-kun must have woken up at some point, because the next thing I knew he had moved so that he was leaning half of the upper half of his body on top of my shoulder so he could see over me. I looked up at his profile looming above me as he said to Nanako-nee-san, "I want to see it."

Nanako-nee-san laughed some more and Mai-chan giggled along with her mother, as if she understood the big joke too.

_Traitorous little baby._

By then, I just wanted to go dig a hole in the Echizen yard and bury myself.

Ryoma-kun leaned further over me and held his hand up towards Nanako-nee-san as if asking her to hand over her cell phone so he could see the picture she took.

I grunted at his weight pressing down on me and protested, "Ryoma-kun, get off of me!"

In answer, Ryoma-kun simply pressed more of his weight onto me.  _The bully._  I put my arm out towards the ground, scared he was going to push me too much and make me tumble onto the floor.

"Ryoma-kun!" I protested again.

Nanako-nee-san reached into her pocket to retrieve her phone and started to babble away on her perception of our relationship, "I always thought you two were such a cute little couple, but I never saw you doing anything, so I was really happy to find you two cuddled up with Mai-chan when I got back."

I was about to smack Ryoma-kun when Uncle strode into the room and took a look at the two of us mashed up together on the couch. He let out a whistle of appreciation before he zoomed over to stand next to Nanako-nee-san and leer down at us.

Ryoma-kun's arm dropped from reaching out for Nanako-nee-san's phone as Uncle said, "Well, what do we have here?"

Nanako-nee-san giggled and said conspiratorially, "They were sleeping together with Mai-chan when I got back."

Uncle's grin dropped to a frown of disappointment as he explained lamely, "They sleep together all the time." Lowering his voice slightly he said, "She might even be his best friend since they're always together. Sakuno-chan even went with him to the US Open when Rinko was sick." He paused before asking with a slight hint of renewed hope, "No kissing then?"

I groaned out loud with embarrassment as Nanako-nee-san shook her head no and Mai-chan started fussing again. Uncle put his hands on his hips as his frown deepened. He practically pouted down at the two of us laying there on the sofa. Ryoma-kun still had half of his upper body draped over mine, and I was feeling so stuck and so uncomfortable I wanted to scream.

"Sometimes I really wonder about you Seishounen," Uncle said. The disappointment in his voice was unmistakable. It was so ironic, I almost laughed out loud.

Ryoma-kun moved off of me then and I quickly rolled off the couch to my feet. Ryoma-kun stood up right behind me. Taking my hand he said, "I'll walk Sakuno home."

Uncle waved his hand dismissively, "It's dark out and the snowstorm is worse. It's a wonder we were able to get back here. We're all staying here for the night." He looked pointedly at Nanako-nee-san and then at me as he said that.

Nanako-nee-san smiled cheerfully, "Well then, I need to go feed Mai-chan." She gave me her sweetest smile and said, "Thank you for coming over to help Ryoma take care of my baby." I gave a nod to her before she turned and made her way towards the kitchen.

"I'll call the old hag," Uncle said to me.

I really wished he didn't call Grandma that for about the one millionth time as I yawned around a frown at the news I'd have to stay the night there.

Ryoma-kun tugged on my hand, pulling me towards the stairs as he called back to his father, "We're going back to sleep."

"Good night," Uncle paused and said, "Seishounen." He paused again before he added, "And future daughter in law."

"Yada," I protested immediately to Uncle as Ryoma-kun scowled and tugged me more forcefully up the stairs, speeding up our pace.

I heard Uncle laughing behind us.

Wait. _Where was Auntie Rinko?_

As we stepped into Ryoma-kun's room I asked him, "Ryoma-kun, where's your mom?"

Ryoma-kun's mouth twisted down slightly before he said, "She probably went to bed as soon as they got back. Ever since her sickness she's been really weak."

At his forlorn look I had the insane desire to hug him or comfort him somehow and once again I wanted to beat myself up for being such a sap. Just because I was still in love with him didn't mean I needed to open myself up for more fresh wounds on my already bleeding heart. I decided I could try to help out more though so Auntie could rest and get better.

Ryoma-kun moved over to his window and moved the curtain aside to look at the snow as it continued to drift down towards the ground. I stepped up next to him and looked out at the flurries swirling away in the darkness and then down at the shadows of lumps on the ground below. Wow, it really was a serious storm for Tokyo. We rarely ever had snow settle in like this. Maybe it would stay cold enough that night for us to wake up to a winter wonderland? I took a step back from the window and smiled at the slight fog on the window where I'd been standing.

Ryoma-kun blew his hot breath over my dissipating fog on the window and drew a little cat in the fog with his finger.

I giggled at his art and moved closer to him. Breathing on the window next to the cat, I drew a smaller cat and said, "Karupin needs a friend."

"Hn," Ryoma-kun said in acknowledgement.

I added a heart above the two cats, "Now Karupin will be warm during the snowstorm."

Ryoma-kun stepped behind me and wrapped a cold hand around my waist. His icy from the cold window fingertips grazed against the warm flesh of my abdomen under my shirt.

I shivered from the cold contact as he asked into my ear from behind me, "Like us?"

I pulled his hand away, "Your hand is cold."

He put his hand back where it had been and moved his other one to join it, "So warm them up."

I gave a huff of frustration, "Always so demanding."

He pulled away and moved across the room where he removed a set of pajamas from his dresser. Tossing the top towards me, he quickly changed into the pants and jumped into his bed.

"Hurry up, it's cold!"

I gave him a glare before leaving his room and heading to the bathroom. After changing, I brushed my teeth, let down my braids and combed my hair out. As I opened the door, Ryoma-kun stood there in the hallway, leaning up against the wall, waiting for me. I gave him a confused look.

"Bed. Now."

"I just wanted to brush my teeth and my hair."

Ryoma-kun's mouth quirked up at that before he scooted into the bathroom past me and started brushing his teeth. I watched him and mused about how I had my own toothbrush at Ryoma-kun's house since I was there often enough. I wondered at Uncle's comment to Nanako-nee-san about my being Ryoma-kun's best friend.

That was impossible, wasn't it? I mean, sure we spent more time together than anybody else, but that didn't mean we were even friends, did it? I was just his primary target for torment and bullying, right? Still though, the idea that Uncle and probably Auntie too viewed me as Ryoma-kun's best friend was pretty shocking.

As Ryoma-kun finished brushing his teeth and we headed back to his bedroom where we quickly cuddled up together under the covers, trying to warm up the cold bed, I thought about it some more. Ryoma-kun and I did have a lot of secrets we kept from the rest of the world...

As he started rubbing his hands up and down my sides and over my shoulders I wondered about how he called me by my given name and didn't really do that with anybody else besides his family members like Nanako-nee-san.

Ryoma-kun started kissing me then, and I forgot all about it until I woke up the next morning wrapped up in his arms, in his bed, in his house, with his parents and cousin down the hallway and realized that nobody there thought there was anything wrong with that.

Was it because everybody thought Ryoma-kun and I were simply best friends and therefore nothing would ever happen with us? I had to wonder at that considering how Ryoma-kun's whole family seemed to always be trying to set us up together as a couple. So then, was it because they all thought Ryoma-kun's interests in me at present were strictly platonic, having no idea that we'd been kissing and doing other things for the last year and a half? Which made my mind spin once again with what I'd realized at the US Open that summer when Ryoma-kun had told his father we were kissing and he hadn't believed him and I'd realized that I knew Ryoma-kun better than everybody else did, his family included.

So wait!

_Did that make me his best friend?_

I could barely wrap my mind around that concept. Shared secrets or not, if I understood the mean side to him that nobody else did or not, the truth was that the two of us didn't really get along. We were always fighting. Ryoma-kun regularly had bouts of ignoring me. Ryoma-kun liked to pick on me and embarrass me in front of our friends and schoolmates. That wasn't exactly the way best friends treated each other, right?

There was just no way I was his best friend...right?

So then...who was his best friend?

_Maybe I didn't know Ryoma-kun as well as I thought I did if I didn't know the answer to that._


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Seventeen

* * *

The morning after the snowstorm, Ryoma-kun and I slept in a bit, enjoying our shared body heat on the cold winter day. Both of us were slightly exhausted from first taking care of Mai-chan and then staying up late making out instead of sleeping as we ought to have been.

I was so happy it was Sunday and we didn't have school. I wondered if Monday would bring a fresh week or so of Ryoma-kun ignoring my existence as we made our way to the kitchen to have a late breakfast.

Uncle, Auntie, Nanako-nee-san and Mai-chan were all in the kitchen. Auntie was holding Mai-chan and Uncle was reading a newspaper while Nanako-nee-san fussed about at the stove cooking up what looked and smelled like pancakes.

I was kind-of excited about having pancakes for breakfast since I hadn't had any since Ryoma-kun and I were in New York for the US Open. It must have been a special snow day breakfast Nanako-nee-san wanted to make.

As I had smiled in the direction of the stove and delighted at the prospect of enjoying a rare Western breakfast Ryoma-kun grouched about Nanako-nee-san always making Western food for breakfast.

"She hasn't been here in the morning to make us breakfast ever since we moved back now that she's married and has a baby. Don't fuss so much and just be grateful," Uncle scolded.

In retaliation, Ryoma-kun grabbed at the top of Uncle's newspaper and began to pull it up only to have the two of them engage in a fight over who would keep the newspaper. I was pretty sure I heard Ryoma-kun gripe about Uncle reading naughty magazines, so I pretended the boys weren't in the room and smiled over the table at Auntie and Mai-chan.

It was almost surreal having breakfast with the whole family. Sure, Ryoma-kun and I stayed the night together often enough, but it was usually when either his parents or Grandma weren't at home. At least, I'd never stayed at his house when his parents were there before. Staying the night with them all there and having breakfast with everybody was a new experience.

"How are you feeling, Auntie?" I asked.

Auntie Rinko gave me a slightly weary smile, "I'm getting better with each day, but I'm a little worn out today after what happened yesterday."

"What happened yesterday? I was really surprised to come over and find Ryoma-kun with Mai-chan."

_Especially considering that until last night I hadn't even known that Nanako-nee-san had gotten married and had a baby in the last two years._

"My husband was in an accident from the snow storm," Nanako-nee-san said from the stove. "Uncle was going to go with me to the hospital and Auntie was going to watch Mai, but I needed Auntie to go with me too, so we left Mai here, knowing Ryoma would call you up."

The three of us girls laughed at that.

"Is your husband going to be okay?" I asked Nanako-nee-san.

"Yes, we think so. We stayed at the hospital until they told us he was stable and that we should get home and rest. After breakfast I'm going back over there and I'll probably be gone all day."

"Do you need me to watch Mai-chan again?" I asked.

"I'll be watching her today, Sakuno-chan. So you're free to go do something with Ryoma or whatever you had planned today," Auntie said.

"Oh." I wondered what I would do that day as I glanced to the side for a second to see Ryoma-kun and Uncle still arguing.

"It's really nice to have you here with us in the morning Sakuno-chan," Auntie continued. "You should stay over more often," She added.

I shook my head, "Grandma would get lonely."

"Oh, so then what's the old hag going to do when you two get married?" Uncle chimed in as he got back into his seat, his newspaper now rolled up next to him.

Auntie and Nanako-nee-san started giggling at Uncle's comment and I watched as an unfazed Ryoma-kun flopped back into his chair next to his father. He never failed in caring zero about how his family would tease us about getting married. It made no sense to me.

"Why do you keep saying that?" I asked Uncle.

Uncle waved his arm at me and then at Ryoma-kun as he said, "What do you mean? You're the only girl he's ever talked to besides family. Of course he's going to marry you!"

I shook my head and put my hand over my face in defeat, "Uncle. We aren't getting married!"

All the adults laughed at that before Uncle said between guffaws, "You say that now, but give it a few years. As soon as he's interested in girls and not just tennis, he'll come after you." He waved his finger at me, "Mark my words."

_He had no idea._

I shook my head again,  _"I don't think so."_

Ryoma-kun kicked me under the table and I bit my lip to keep from crying out in pain. I rubbed my sore ankle as I shot him a death glare which he returned.  _What was that for?_

Nanako-nee-san approached the table and set a huge stack of hot pancakes down in the middle with a large pitcher of syrup. I looked down and noticed we had forks and everything and was reminded yet again how different Ryoma-kun's family was from mine. He'd really grown up in America. It was so odd to me. Nanako-nee-san grew up here in Japan though, right? So did Auntie teach her how to make things like pancakes?

As Nanako-nee-san loaded up everybody's plates Uncle interrupted my pancake musings as he asked, "So your birthdays are coming up soon, aren't they?"

"Hn," Ryoma-kun confirmed.

"How old are you kids going to be again? 15? 16?"

"Fifteen," I answered as I cut into my hot pancake.

"Ah, that's right and high school starts this spring."

I nodded as I chewed the hot sticky cake in my mouth in bliss. Hot pancakes! Such a treat! Nanako-nee-san was amazing! I needed to ask her to teach me how to make them sometime. Or maybe Auntie, since it was probably Auntie who taught her.

"So while we're all here, I guess it's a good idea to talk about the Australian Open," Uncle said as we all ate our breakfast.

"What about it?" Ryoma-kun asked.

"Did you tell Sakuno-chan you want her to go with you yet?" Uncle asked.

"Eh?"

Everybody looked at me.

Ryoma-kun rolled his eyes and muttered, "Not yet."

"What?"

"Ryoma wants you to go with him to the Australian Open," Auntie explained softly.

Well, I had kind-of gathered as much, despite my confused outbursts. Still...this was... _weird_. I looked from Auntie to Ryoma-kun.

He was giving me a look I hadn't seen on him yet. It was an awkward smile, and his cheeks were slightly flushed as he asked, "Want to go to Australia with me?"

I set my fork down, "Why?"

Ryoma-kun's eyes hardened, but he offered no answer.

After a few minutes of silence Uncle said, "You better tell her."

"Tell me what?" I asked, still looking at Ryoma-kun.

Auntie sighed and Ryoma-kun huffed with annoyance.

"Tell me what, Ryoma-kun?" I insisted.

He shot a glare my direction and said, "You already know why, Sakuno."

The adults all froze. Taken aback, I stood up, "What are you talking about?"

Ryoma-kun shoved another bite of pancake in his mouth and determinedly ignored me as he chewed his breakfast. I wanted to flip his plate over and demand some answers from him, but I never act out on those little fantasies. Didn't mean I didn't imagine them though...and in their own small way, they made me feel better.

Knowing I was being stonewalled, I heaved a sigh of defeat and sat back down. Arguing with Ryoma-kun was always a pointless exercise anyways. No matter what he does or doesn't say or what he does or doesn't do,  _he always gets his way when it comes to me._ It's a given fact. You'd think I'd have learnt my lesson by now. Looking over at Uncle I asked calmly, "Well then, when will we be leaving?"

Uncle gave me a strange look and then looked to the side at his son and then back at me. He shot a confused look Auntie and Nanako-nee-san's ways, but both of the older women simply shrugged. I could tell they were all confused at our strange relationship, but I had no explanation to offer either, so I ignored their confused stares. Watching Ryoma-kun's family observe his power over me was pretty humiliating to say the least, and at that point, I just wanted breakfast to end so I could go home.

Uncle gave one last baffled look at Ryoma-kun before he looked at me again and then he said slowly, "Well...the tournament begins right after your birthday Sakuno-chan, so we'll need to get the old hag to agree and clear you from school work. It will be about two weeks, since unlike the US Open last summer Ryoma's been seeded which means you don't have to go early for the qualifiers. Also unlike New York, you kids will have an open ticket and fly home if Ryoma is out before the finals match since you're missing school to go."

"So does Grandma know about this already?"

"We discussed it a little bit with her while you kids were still in New York last summer, but we haven't talked about it recently."

"Okay."

"Okay...that's it? You're going to go?" Uncle asked.

I gave him a sheepish smile, "Yes."

Ryoma-kun looked up slightly at that, but his face gave away nothing.

"Seishounen, what did you do to Sakuno-chan?" Uncle asked.

Ryoma-kun ignored him, shoving more of his pancakes into his mouth. He was almost done.

Uncle shot me a worried look, "Is everything okay?"

"What do you mean?"

Uncle looked over at the stoic Ryoma-kun and then back at me again.

I gave him a tight smile.

"Nevermind. I'm glad you're going. He needs you."

I blinked in surprise at his last comment. Ryoma-kun needed me?  _Yeah right._ Ryoma-kun didn't need anybody, especially not me, and especially not when it came to tennis. Maybe he needed Uncle sometimes, but I even wondered at that when I'd seen him playing in the US Open against some of the world's best players, still up to his usual mada mada dane tricks.

I didn't know why Ryoma-kun wanted me to go with him. Maybe because his parents didn't want him to go alone and he'd rather have me with him than them? Probably not...I mean, he had given his father a hard time about not being at the US Open with him. So maybe he just wanted to have me there so he could bully me and make himself feel better when he was stressing out over a match? Possible, but not really likely. Ryoma-kun had barely been nervous at the US Open. Any sort of distraction would probably be sufficient, so he didn't need to be tormenting me to overcome whatever nerves he might have. He said I 'knew' why though. I knew he'd meant it when he'd said it too. It wasn't often that Ryoma-kun got really serious, and when he did, he didn't usually vocalize much, but when he'd said that to me, he'd been perfectly serious. It was why I knew I had to go with him, even if he wouldn't tell me why.

What really irked me was that it seemed that his parents knew something about why he wanted me to go with him, and neither of them were going to tell me either. If Ryoma-kun was going to be such a closed door about it, couldn't they at least tell me why I had to pack up my life for two weeks and go to a foreign country with Ryoma-kun again?

I wondered briefly if Grandma knew why and if she would tell me. I wasn't even sure about that. Both of our families seemed dead set on the two of us being together. You'd think we had an arranged marriage, and I'm ever so grateful every day that we don't. Dealing with Ryoma-kun without that added power over me was bad enough. If he had some sort of obilitory family claim to me on top of the bullying he already does, I would really be in for it. Not to mention he'd probably break my heart way more than he's managed to do up to this point.

I briefly wondered about Kintaro-kun for a moment. Would he really make good on his promise to make it possible to date me? Would I want to? Would Ryoma-kun try to stop it? Would our families get involved if I ever did start going out with a boy other than Ryoma-kun? Grandma hadn't ever hinted that I would probably marry Ryoma-kun when we grew up, but Ryoma-kun's family talked about it a lot. Maybe that's why Ryoma-kun didn't even bother to get involved with the conversation. They probably talked about it with him all the time. It's a wonder he doesn't ignore me more often just to spite them. Or maybe he did the things he did to me to spite them. Or me. Or just everybody.

_UGH! Why was it always so complicated with him?_

Lost in my own thoughts I missed the rest of the breakfast conversation and before I knew it, my plate was clear and it was time to go. As I excused myself and thanked Uncle and Auntie for taking care of me during the snowstorm, Ryoma-kun stood up as well. We headed towards the door together and he walked me home in silence.

The streets were icy with partially melted snow-slush and it only took one slip of my foot before Ryoma-kun had wrapped our arms together to give me some stability.

I didn't know if I liked walking so close to him or not. It was a whole new level to the occasional hand-holding we would do when we were walking together. I could feel every inch of the side of his body pressed up against mine and I could even feel a bit of added warmth from his arm through the layers where it wrapped around mine. He was so close I could hear his breathing, and I watched little puff after little puff of warm air leave his mouth with each breath he took.

As we reached my door, I took my key out and put it in the lock to open the door, but Ryoma-kun's hand jetted out, stopping mine from turning the handle.

"Everyone will find out about Australia," He said.

I turned to the side to look at him, but his face was looking down determinedly at my hand he was holding over the door knob.

_What was he trying to say?_

"Is that a problem?" I finally asked.

He shook his head no and then looked up at me. I watched as his eyes searched mine. I would have been happy to answer whatever his question was, but I had no idea what he was thinking or what he was searching for within me.

"You never told anyone you went to New York with me, did you?" He asked.

I shook my head.

"Not even Osakada?" He asked.

I giggled at that, "Ryoma-kun. I don't think Tomo-chan would be able to keep a secret like that about you."

He gave me a puzzled look for a moment before he asked, "So she doesn't know about... _anything?"_

I almost fell over at that question. I couldn't believe he was talking about  _that_  with me! We really never talked about it seriously.  _Not ever._ It was like we were three separate couples: The bully and the victim. The friends. And then there was the one side of us that nobody knew about and that we never discussed, and that was the...'couple.'

"I don't know. I've never really said anything."

He took his hand off of mine then and crossed his arms over his chest. As he leaned his side against the door, he asked incredulously, "Really?"

I gave him an irritated look, "What would I have said?"

His mouth twisted for a second at that, and then his expression turned blank.

He was blocking me out again.  _This conversation was over._

"I'll see you at school tomorrow," I said as I turned the doorknob and pushed the door in.

Ryoma-kun gracefully stepped to the side away from the door as it opened with the ease of a top level athlete. I watched as he walked down the walkway back towards the street and then I entered my house.

Grandma was still in her pajamas with a long warm house robe draped over her shoulders and a cup of steaming something in her hand, "Good morning!"

"I'm home, Grandma."

"Welcome home. Did you have a good time with the Echizens?"

I gave her a small smile and told her about the pancakes Nanako-nee-san had made for breakfast and about taking care of Mai-chan.

"Sounds like you had quite the adventure. Was that Ryoma I saw that walked you home?"

I gave a slight nod at that, hoping she had nothing more to say about the tennis prince. He was the last person I wanted to even think about at that time.

"He's a good guy, isn't he?"

I shrugged.

"Is everything okay? You two aren't fighting, are you?"

My eyes widened at that question and I shook my head no. Whatever was going on with the two of us, was  _definitely not_  something I would talk about with Grandma.

"Well, that brat Nanjiro called after breakfast and said it seemed like you two were fighting about going to Australia," Grandma fessed up.

"I see." I shrugged again and said lamely, "It's fine. I guess it's okay for me to go with him then?"

"Only if you want to go."

I looked up at that, surprised she was giving me an out. I was kind-of expecting her to push the issue like she had about the US Open. Though, I supposed the circumstances were different since Auntie wasn't in the hospital like last time, though she wasn't fully recovered either. Maybe it was because of Auntie that I was supposed to go after all? Was I just being insensitive to Ryoma-kun's mama and that's why he hadn't answered me at breakfast because he didn't want to embarrass her? Hadn't I just made a promise to myself last night to try to help Auntie more?

Feeling as if I had uncovered a great mystery, I gave Grandma a newly invigorated smile and said, "I want to go and support Ryoma-kun!"

Grandma gave me a big smile then, "Good. It's all settled. I'll take care of everything."

I closed the distance between us and gave her a big hug and a kiss on her cheek, feeling instantly better about the whole situation. I love my Grandma, she is the best.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Eighteen

* * *

We'd had about a week of school before winter break, then Ryoma-kun's birthday, Christmas, the new year, and my birthday all passed. It all felt like a whirlwind and then before I knew it, it was time for us to leave for the Australian Open.

It was still pretty cold in Tokyo when we'd boarded the plane, so arriving to the hot summer day in Melbourne had been a shock to our systems. I marveled at world travel and how Ryoma-kun and I had been able to get on a plane in the winter and after flying for ten hours to be in the middle of summer. If there was one thing I could thank Ryoma-kun for in all this mess we were in, it was that he was expanding my knowledge of the world. If it wasn't for him, I  _might_ have ended up visiting New York City someday, but I doubted I would have gotten around to going to Melbourne Australia.

Unlike when we'd landed in New York and Ryoma-kun had been in his element, arriving in Australia together seemed to put him on edge. As we'd exited the plane, he'd grasped my right hand with his left and commanded, "Don't let go of me."

He'd dragged me through the terminal and over to the baggage claim and even insisted on holding on to my hand as he'd pulled our luggage off of the conveyor belt one handed. You would think that would have been really odd, but somehow Ryoma-kun pulled it all off while still looking as cool as ever. _Go figure._ I, on the other hand, felt insanely awkward, as usual for _me._

As we'd somewhat awkwardly made our way out of the airport to get a car to drive us to our hotel, I'd asked Ryoma-kun if Melbourne was a dangerous place.

In return he'd shrugged and said gruffly, "You get lost easily and I've never been here before."

Well, he did have me there. Not only was I admittedly directionally challenged, but I really didn't know English well enough to get out of a bad situation if I was separated from Ryoma-kun. I tried not to be overly touched at his concern for me, but honestly, it made my heart swell when I thought about it. You know...because that meant  _he wanted to take care of me..._

I know...I'm such a sucker. The truth is, I just can't help myself sometimes.

Australia was amazing and it was so different from New York. In a way I had been expecting it to be like New York since it was another English speaking country, but I'd been wrong. They were speaking English, I knew that much, but it sounded so different from the fast talking Americans. They kind of reminded me of Kintaro-kun's cute accent, and I found myself listening with rapt attention to whatever was being said, because I enjoyed the sound of it so much. The added bonus was that I really enjoyed watching Ryoma-kun struggle at times to understand them. It was actually a highlight of the trip for me. Not that it happened too much, but it happened a few times and that was good enough for me.

_Hot shot fluent English speaker? HA. HA-HA. Hahahahahahahaha._

Paying attention to the way the Australians spoke helped me with my English quite a bit. I lamented my past mistakes of tuning out English speaking so much and realized that perhaps my English would be better if I actually paid attention more when English speaking peoples were speaking to me. It made me want to stay in Australia for enough time to pass to become fluent in the language.

_Then Ryoma-kun wouldn't be able to say things in front of me that I couldn't understand anymore._

Our hotel in Australia was wonderful, and overall, I enjoyed Melbourne Park much better than Flushing Meadows in New York. Even though it was hotter in Australia, the location and the distance from the hotel to the venue was a big improvement. Not to mention we weren't gone for as long from home.

Besides Ryoma-kun blowing away the tennis world with his epically promising tennis skills once again, what I really remembered from the Australian Open that year was that it was the third time Ryoma-kun had butted himself into my business.

Remember how I said I never should have thanked him for turning down Ryoga-nii-san for me? I hadn't really picked up on it when he'd told Kintaro-kun I couldn't date him at the Nationals, but in Melbourne, when it happened for the third time, I began to see the pattern.

We'd only been there for a couple of days, but we were both really comfortable with Australia and the venue by then. Since our hotel was so close, Ryoma-kun didn't insist on my being by his side constantly as he had in New York, and so on most days while he was practicing or scoping out the competition, I would walk back and forth from the hotel to Melbourne Park.

One of the days as I was arriving back at Melbourne Park, I'd been surprised to have a blond, tanned, Australian tennis player around our age approach me. His blue eyes had sparkled at me as he'd given me a friendly, "Hello."

I'd been having a few short conversations in English with the hotel staff the past couple of days, but I hadn't really talked with anybody when I was by myself in English  _EVER,_  including when we'd been in America, so the whole experience had been scary and yet exciting at the same time. It was a great opportunity to work on my English. I mean...a really cute boy was talking to me! SQUEEEEEEE!

"Hi," I said greeting him back.

"My name is James. What's your name?" He'd asked.

Okay...still really basic English. I could totally do this! Mustering up my courage, I introduced myself, remembering to say my name in English and everything!

"My name is Sakuno Ryuzaki. Nice to meet you Mr. James."

He'd laughed, and I noticed his cute dimples as he'd held his hand out and shook mine while I had awkwardly bowed.  _Handshakes...wasn't prepared for that one!_  Then he'd said, "Please, just call me James."

Not really sure what he meant by that seeing as how he'd only given me his given name, I'd simply nodded. Shaking hands was so cool though! I'd never done that before either! Different cultures sure were exciting.

"Where are you from, Sakuno?" He'd asked.

"I'm from Tokyo, Japan," I'd answered. Wow! I was doing so good with my English! I couldn't wait to brag to Ryoma-kun that I'd had a whole conversation in English!

"So are you here for the tournament? Do you play tennis?" He asked.

As I'd been about to answer him, Ryoma-kun had appeared by my side and draped an arm around my shoulders.

"Hi," Ryoma-kun said, butting into our conversation.

James-san looked at Ryoma-kun with a frown for half a second and then a delighted smile had broken out on his face. He enthusiastically shook Ryoma-kun's hand and said, "Wow! Ryoma Echizen!" He said something else, but the words were too fast and complicated for me. I was pretty sure it had something to do with Ryoma-kun being a popular tennis player. The stars in James-san's eyes were a dead giveaway. At that point, I'd seen fans interact with Ryoma-kun enough to notice the signs.

Ryoma-kun had been tense when he'd first draped his arm over my shoulders, but at James-san's enthusiastic greeting, he'd relaxed.

They conversed for a few minutes and I didn't get much understanding about what they were saying except that it had something to do with tennis. Until I'd picked up on some simpler words.

"So is Sakuno your sister?"

I'd almost died of laughter at that as Ryoma-kun had ground his teeth before saying a terse, "No."

James-san gave the two of us a curious look for a moment and then said something to Ryoma-kun again that was too fast for me to understand.

After a few more sentences I understood as Ryoma-kun said very slowly, as if wanting to make sure I understood, "Sakuno doesn't speak English well."

I'd glared at him and said quickly in Japanese, "Ryoma-kun, I was doing good talking to James-san before you interrupted us. My English is getting better!"

He patted my shoulder and said, "Mada mada dane."

"Ryoma-kun! I'm being serious, I did better!"

Turning back to James-san I'd said in English, "Mr. James, it was really nice to meet you. I'm sorry that Ryoma-kun came."

James-san had grinned at me then, and I was once again struck with how cute he was. Those dimples were really to die for. If I hadn't been completely crazy about Ryoma-kun, I probably would have been blushing 20 shades of red by then.

"How long will you be in Australia?" James-san asked.

"Until the end, or if Ryoma-kun loses," I answered. I wished I knew more words in English so I could have said it better, but I was satisfied that I'd been able to understand his question and answer him, even if it was simply put.

"Oh. So are you here with Ryoma?"

His question confused me. Wasn't it obvious I was there with Ryoma-kun? What else would I be doing in Australia? Why else would Ryoma-kun have come up to us and started talking to us? Unable to voice my questions I'd simply said, "Yes."

Ryoma-kun added, "Sakuno always comes with me."

James-san had asked some more questions to Ryoma-kun then that I didn't understand, but I noticed that Ryoma-kun had tensed up again.

Finally, I understood something he did say and that was, "No." He'd said it with such force, I was taken aback.

Looking to the side at Ryoma-kun who was suddenly squeezing me in closer with his arm he'd kept draped around my shoulders I asked in English, "Ryoma-kun, what's wrong?"

Ryoma-kun turned surprised eyes at me and asked in Japanese, "Why are you talking to me in English?"

I had shrugged then and swept my hand lamely in the direction of James-san, trying to convey that I thought it was rude of us to speak in Japanese in front of him. After all, he'd been trying to talk to me until Ryoma-kun had interrupted us.

He'd huffed then before he said to James-san in English something about me. I didn't know exactly what he said, but I knew he was talking about me because he said my name.

"What did he say about me?" I asked James-san in English, wishing desperately that I understood the conversation.

James-san had looked very uncomfortable for a minute. I could tell he struggled with what to say for a moment before he said slowly, "Ryoma said you can't go out with me."

I turned questioning eyes to Ryoma-kun, hoping for an interpretation. I understood the words, but the meaning was lost on me.

"He wants to take you on a date," Ryoma-kun translated grouchily.

His hand squeezed my shoulder as I'd blushed, pleasantly surprised that Ryoma-kun hadn't been making fun of me to James-san and that such a good looking Australian guy had an interest in me. Being fifteen was already proving to be very interesting!

Ryoma-kun was giving me a hard stare as I'd stood there blushing, so I'd covered my hand over my face to hide my embarrassment for a second. Then I suddenly realized I was getting into the conversation a bit late. I had distinctly heard Ryoma-kun tell James-san no.

"Ryoma-kun did you already tell him no?" I asked quietly.

"Of course I did," He quickly snapped back.

Part of me really wanted to be mad at him for not even telling me about it before answering for me, but another part of me was happy that I hadn't been put on the spot to go on a date with an English speaking boy. No matter how cute he was, there was no way that would ever work, and Grandma would probably get upset if she knew I'd gone out on a date while we'd been in Australia. Not to mention whatever horrible thing Ryoma-kun would come up with afterwards to torment me about it. He loved to bully me after all, and who knew what he'd come up with if I ever went out on a date with somebody. Giving Ryoma-kun more things to tease me about was definitely not a good idea. Not unless I was sure it would be worth it, that is.

Still, I was insanely flattered. So I'd flashed a big smile James-san's way. His demeanor had instantly changed from uncomfortable to happy as he'd smiled back. For a moment I saw myself in another life, as some worldly woman that could and would go out on a date with some cute Australian guy as if it was no big deal. It was just one of those moments where your mind quickly flashes at you a glimpse into another world entirely, and somehow you're in it. I'm  _not_  that girl though, so I gave brief bow and simply said to him in English, "Thank you."

Before James-san or I could say another word, Ryoma-kun began pulling me away and called over his shoulder to James-san, "I have a match. Sakuno comes with me."

I was proud of myself for understanding Ryoma-kun's English words, and had happily followed him to the court where he played his match that day.

That night, Ryoma-kun had wrapped both of his arms around me in bed and muttered something about not leaving his side anymore. I'd giggled at his sleepily delivered comment and thanked him for turning down James-san for me.

Ryoma-kun had smirked against my neck before placing a light kiss there.

I hadn't thought about it again until the next day. That's when it had occurred to me. What I know now...

Ryoma-kun will  _always_ sabotage, prevent, stop and/or interfere in some way or another anytime any male so much as looks my way, let alone talks to me, or asks me out on a date.

Ryoga-nii-san had only been the first. James-san had been the first time I'd really noticed, and with Kintaro-kun, I had recalled it to mind after I'd noticed. Ever since Australia though, I've  _always_  noticed. By now, it's practically become a game for us.

After realizing what was happening, I hadn't really known how to react to it. In a way, it was good. In a way, it could be bad. So far, it had only been a good thing because I hadn't been interested in dating any of the boys that had asked me. Ryoga-nii-san was just...no. I didn't really know Kintaro-kun very well and he lived too far away. Then there was James-san who was just...impossible. Not to mention the complicated mess I have with Ryoma-kun. I couldn't exactly go around on dates with other boys while I was still kissing Ryoma-kun every time the two of us were alone together, and I still liked Ryoma-kun anyway, even though I didn't want to.

So I continued to thank Ryoma-kun for helping me out. I figured in the end, he was less likely to bully me if I just thanked him. In the end, I thought, maybe if I really do like someone one of these days, then considering how observant Ryoma-kun was he would notice I was interested and he would stay out of it. Maybe Ryoma-kun was really just trying to help me out.

_Oh...how wrong I was._

Being wrong about that...it made me question  _everything._

After all these years, after all this time...did I really know Ryoma-kun at all? Was I  _really_  the person closest to him? How could I have...?


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Nineteen

* * *

So...there you have it. Ryoma-kun and I are now in our first year of high school. We're fifteen, we've known each other for over three years and been in this strange relationship for almost two.

Every week still includes at least one incident of a racquet to the back of my knees followed by, "Your knees are too bent, your shoulders are too wide, your racquet is pink, your hair's too long, mada mada dane." Or some variations thereof.

Somehow, we've always ended up in the same classroom, even when none of our other friends have been with us. He still partners with me for school assignments, especially English ones. Even though my English has really gotten better from traveling around with Ryoma-kun. It's still nowhere near Ryoma-kun's fluency, but I'm doing better compared to the rest of the class these days. That's something.

He still calls me Sakuno. We still spend the night together here and there. His parents still insist we're destined to get married. Grandma still stays out of it. Ryoma-kun still bullies me at every opportunity and he still ignores me for roughly a week anytime after he kisses me, well, except for when we're out of Japan for a tennis championship.

High School started out with its own changes as well. Since Seigaku is an escalator school, we were with most of our same schoolmates as we'd been in our first year of middle school. However, we were older now, so just about everything else had changed. The biggest change from middle school to high school was the dating scene. Everybody was either dating someone, or wanted to date someone.

Additionally,  _The Echizen Ryoma Fanclub_  had become massive, especially with Ryoma-kun now competing on a professional level where his face was splashed in several sports advertisements and magazines. From day 1, most of the student body knew who Ryoma-kun was. He was instantly super popular. Most of them also knew that he had participated in the US and Australian Opens. Most of those that actually  _knew_  him, and most of his fanclub members knew that I'd gone with him to the Australian Open during our third year of middle school.

_That_  had brought on a whole extra set of complicated issues for me. From the very start of high school, there were a few problems with the fanclub girls harassing me. Most of them being new fanclub members that hadn't known that Ryoma-kun and I had been _"close friends"_  for years. Tomo-chan had been quick to stick up for me, which had quieted things down a little bit. It didn't stop them though. It continued right up until one day Ryoma-kun actually found out about how some of the fanclub girls were bullying me. Needless to say,  _he didn't take it very well._

To my  _utter mortification,_  he stuck to my side for a few weeks, glaring at any female besides Tomo-chan that so much as looked at me. The bullying stopped, but I was pretty sure it was because there were no opportunities with Ryoma-kun being next to me all the time. I was pretty sure that as soon as he decided to ignore me again after a kissing session that the bullying would get  _much worse_  than it had been to begin with. It made me feel like I was walking around with a lead rock in my stomach all the time. The feeling of coming dread was enormous.

During that same time that he was with me to protect me from the fangirls, we left school for a couple of weeks to go to the French Open. We went back to school for only about a week before we'd had to leave again for Wimbledon. I was kind of grateful that everything happened so quickly at that time because it kept me from focusing too much on the girls out for my blood. With no good reason, mind you!  _If they only knew how much he bullied me himself!_

With all the traveling, the bullying, and the added stress of high school curriculum, I felt like my life was no longer my own. I felt like I was swept up in a whirlwind. I felt like I didn't know where I was or where I was going. All I knew was that, somehow, Ryoma-kun was always with me. Or maybe it was that I was always with him. I'm not really sure where he ended and I began. It was strange.

It was a wonder our school work wasn't suffering horribly with all the traveling around for Ryoma-kun's tournaments. Our teachers had been surprisingly understanding. Even more surprising was that Grandma had been okay with me missing school to travel around with Ryoma-kun so much.  _I still didn't know why Ryoma-kun continued to insist that I go with him though._ All I knew was that if Ryoma-kun had a tennis tournament, wherever it happened to be, that I was going with him. We were at the point where it wasn't even discussed. I would simply get a plane ticket handed to me and instructions on packing up my things for the trip.

The French Open had been especially daunting since we went to a country for the first time in which neither of us knew the official language of the country. Thankfully, most of the people we interacted with there spoke English, but there had been more than one occasion that I'd wished either of us had spoken French. I seriously considered taking up French studies, so I'd be ready next year, but I was already overwhelmed with English. My English was improving by leaps and bounds ever since I'd felt like I'd broken through some sort of barrier in Australia. It had been after that trip that English had been much easier for me. I even found myself thinking in English sometimes, which I found really surprising.

It was at Wimbledon, our fourth overseas tournament together in less than a year, that I finally come out and asked Ryoma-kun again  _why_  he had me travel with him. I asked him while we were watching one of the matches while sharing a cup of the fresh strawberries that were served everywhere at Wimbledon.

"Ryoma-kun, why do you bring me with you to these tournaments?"

He'd been chewing a strawberry as he was watching the match play out in front of us, but at my question, his eyes had turned to the side to look at me, his head still facing the tennis court. As he swallowed his strawberry he kept his eyes on me from the side and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, why don't you have your parents come?"

"You don't like coming with me?" He asked instead.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head and said something to him I hadn't said to him in almost two years, "Ryoma-kun is going to be number one in the world."

He turned his head to me then, and grasped onto my hand that was closest to him. Flashing me a rare smile he said softly, "It's better for you to come with me."

"Better than what?" I quickly shot back.

At that, he'd shrugged, and I'd known that was all I was going to get out of him.

I pretty much obsessed about what he meant. I was better than  _his parents_  going with him?  _How could that be?_  Was it because he didn't get along well with his father? Was it because his mother still wasn't fully recovered? Did he mean it was better than me being at school with the fanclub girls without him there to protect me? Did he mean that since I was with him for his first big tournament in New York that he had some kind of superstition that I needed to go with him to all the other ones as well? At that thought, I became pretty apprehensive about the whole matter. It was too possible that was the situation. Athletes are known for weird little ideas like that after all. It was a super scary thought. I mean...didn't that mean that Ryoma-kun would want me to be traveling around with him for tennis tournaments for years and years to come?

What about after high school was over? What about when he did more tournaments than just the four grand slam championships? How would I ever do anything with my life if that was what he expected from me? If he did expect that, would I do it? Was my support of his tennis really ready to go that far? To the point that I would have no life? I wouldn't get married? I wouldn't have kids? I mean...didn't tennis professionals stay in the sport until their 30's? That would be so many years of commitment, I could barely fathom it. What would I do after that? What would Ryoma-kun do? What if Ryoma-kun met some supermodel or female tennis prodigy he wanted to marry or something? Would I then still be expected to travel around with him and his wife?

The thought of Ryoma-kun even showing an interest in any girl besides me sent sharp stabs of pain through my whole body. If I thought our relationship had issues now, it was nothing compared to the feelings I would have if he were to show an interest in someone,  _a real interest._

Things between the two of us might have been messed up to the 100th power, but that didn't mean I was okay with him seeing other girls. Not that he ever even looked at other girls, but it was possible that some day...and I would  _definitely not_  be okay with him dropping me one day. Even though things between us were weird and messed up, it didn't mean that my heart wasn't involved, try as I might to protect it.

You see, it was really just impossible to get over him when he'd integrated himself into my life so much. I was with him all the time! How was I supposed to get out of this? Especially when I was sick enough to put up with the way he treated me just so I could bask in his presence and limited nice treatments for just a little while longer? Well, and the kissing and things were amazing, so...

_Well, don't tell Ryoma-kun I said that._

For about the millionth time since he'd first kissed me, my heart had seized with a burning fear and dread. Why couldn't Ryoma-kun just love me back? Why did he have to be so...

So...

That was when it really hit me. I needed to put a stop to this one way or another before I got so wrapped up that I'd be suicidal when Ryoma-kun got bored and done with me completely. At that point, there had been plenty of guys that had shown an interest in dating me. Ryoma-kun had always interfered, and in a way I'd been grateful for it.  _That needed to change._

Oh yes, I got attention from boys after I'd turned fifteen. It wasn't like I blossomed into some amazingly beautiful girl, but after a few boys asked me out, I figured out that it must be that I was cute enough to get interest from them. It had taken me some time to adjust to the idea that some boys liked me, but considering that I was fairly cute and that due to my support of the tennis team I was constantly surrounded by boys, it really wasn't that big of a stretch.

The first tournament match of our high school season had been the first time. We'd been playing against Fudoumine. The rivalry was strong in the air and the matches were fierce. I'd been excited as anything to be at our first important high school tournament. Ryoma-kun had of course already made it as a regular on the team despite being a first year student, just like it had been in middle school, and I'd been enjoying the tournament more than I'd enjoyed one in a long time. After all, all the old regulars were back together again, well, minus Kawamura-senpai. Kawamura-senpai has been working at his family's sushi shop since his middle school graduation two years ago.

It was when I'd left the main court to go get some Pontas for Ryoma-kun and I that I'd bumped into one of the players from Fudoumine that hadn't been on the middle school team. I had no idea who he was, but he'd been really nice about helping me up after I'd plowed into him in my attempts to run quickly back to the court.

"Are you from Seishun Gakuen?" He'd asked after I'd apologized for running into him and he'd steadied me on my feet.

I wondered how he couldn't know, but it wasn't like I was wearing my uniform that day, so I'd smiled and said, "Yes, I've been going there since middle school."

"Ah. Are you the team manager?" He'd asked next, as he'd pointed to the cold sodas in my hands.

I shook my head no and explained, "My Grandma was the coach in middle school, so I got to know all the boys well back then. I support all their tournaments."

He grinned and said, "How lucky for them."

At his compliment I'd blushed. I'd already had a couple of boys ask me out over the past year, but it was still kind of surreal when it felt like a boy was showing interest in me.

I'd been about to ask him how long he'd been a regular on the Fudoumine team, but Ryoma-kun had appeared out of nowhere and grabbed a Ponta from my hand while complaining, "Sakuno is taking too long."

Embarrassed, I protested, "Ryoma-kun is just impatient."

He'd tapped the top of the can to settle it before he flipped the tab open. He gave me a dark look as he'd taken a sip, and then turned towards the other boy while he said, "I have to keep an eye on you because you're always getting into trouble."

At that, the other boy's eyes had widened a bit and then with a quick bow he'd said, "It was nice bumping into you, take care."

I'd given a wave and said, "Thank you for the help."

As he'd walked away Ryoma-kun scoffed, "So you did get into trouble."

I scratched the back of my head for a second knowing Ryoma-kun was right and really not wanting to admit it.

He'd shaken his head back and forth and said, "Mada mada dane."

That had been the first time.

The second time had been at the Tokyo Prefectural Tournament. I wasn't even sure what school the boy was from, or even if he was a high school student, but I'd left the courts to use the facilities and been quickly approached by the boy as I'd been making my way slowly back towards the tennis court. He wasn't very big, and he had a cuteness to him, but I had a sinking feeling the moment he approached me that not only was he younger than me, but that the upcoming conversation was going to be very uncomfortable.

As he'd ran over and stopped directly in my path, forcing me to stop making my way back to the courts, he'd fidgeted for a second as he'd looked towards the ground. A part of me had remembered how I used to act that way in front of Ryoma-kun in my first year of middle school and my heart sank with dread. I didn't even know this boy! If he was going to confess, I was going to be in a very awkward situation!

Finally, the boy had looked up from the ground and locked eyes with me. I'd blushed and taken a step back at the sudden determined look in his eyes.

"Ah, Ryuzaki-san," He began.  _How did he know who I was?_

"Oi, Sakuno!" Ryoma-kun had called as he'd made his way over to me. I'd been so distracted and stressed out over the boy in front of me, that I'd completely missed noticing that Ryoma-kun had began walking over to us.

The boy had whipped around then, and upon seeing Ryoma-kun he'd exclaimed, "Echizen Ryoma!"

Ryoma-kun had stopped short for a moment and gave the boy a frown before he looked up towards me and took in my flushed face and then looked back at the boy. In a few quick strides, he was standing between us and grabbing my elbow.

"How many times have I told you not to wander off on your own?" Ryoma-kun scolded me.

Relieved that Ryoma-kun had seemed to understand that I'd desperately wanted out of the conversation with the boy, I'd instantly played along, "Ne, Ryoma-kun, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to run off."

I watched as Ryoma-kun's mouth had quirked up in a smirk. He seemed to like it when I played along. It kind-of made me want to play along more often when he did stuff like this. Turning towards the boy, he said, "Do you need something?"

The boy had given Ryoma-kun wide eyes and shaken his head back and forth vigorously.

"Good. Let's go Sakuno."

"Okay."

As we'd walked away and Ryoma-kun had continued to grasp at my elbow I thanked him.

He'd snickered at that and then cracked a joke about keeping me on a leash, which made me burst out into laughter.

It had felt way too good to be making jokes with Ryoma-kun in a normal setting like a school tennis tournament. He'd never really been like that with me around our schoolmates.

There were a couple of other incidents similar to those that happened in school and at other tournaments. Every time, I had thanked Ryoma-kun for his help, whether I'd played along or not. Like I said before, it's almost a game for us at this point. It's like we have this secret little communication when a boy shows interest in me that Ryoma-kun will butt in and whisk me away.

I hadn't realized yet how foolish it had been on my part to be so careless about other boys with Ryoma-kun. It was a stupid thing that I played along and thanked him, which I didn't grasp until we'd arrived back home from Wimbledon just in time for the Kantou Tournament.

I had no idea what I'd been about to walk into, but complicated doesn't even begin to cover what happened next.

 


	20. Chapter Twenty

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Twenty

* * *

The Kantou Tournament in and of its own is a big deal. It's the tournament that decides if our team will go to the National championships or not. Of course, we're expecting to make it to Nationals since we haven't missed a single one ever since Ryoma-kun came to Seigaku four years ago. Not to mention now that Ryoma-kun and I are first year students again, the gang is all back together again. The joy of having all the regulars from when we'd been first year students in middle school (well, minus Kawamura-senpai, who's now working at his family sushi shop) is enormous.

What we hadn't been expecting in high school were the player changes on the other school's teams. Specifically, we hadn't heard yet that one previous Kansai region super rookie Toyama Kintaro had transferred to a school in the Kantou region when he'd started high school. The ripples it caused in the high school tennis scene were considerable, but that had nothing on the ripples it caused in my life.

Ryoma-kun and I had come to enjoy our little game of how he would prevent guys from hitting on me. Like I said, on more than one occasion I'd outright thanked him for it. What Ryoma-kun didn't know was that I'd had an epiphany in England at Wimbledon that I needed to get myself out from under his thumb. What Ryoma-kun didn't know was that I'd realized last year that the only way to get away from him was probably going to be to get myself a real boyfriend. Finally, what I think neither Ryoma-kun nor myself were expecting the most was...

"Saaaaaakunoooo-chaaaaan!" Kintaro-kun practically accosted me as I entered the tournament grounds. Surprised at his sudden appearance, I dropped the large stack of bento boxes I was carrying that I'd prepared for the boys. Really...he was  _the last person_  I was expecting to see today.

Kintaro-kun dove forward and quickly saved them all before flashing me a huge grin,  _"Saved."_ I smiled a bit as it reminded me of our first meeting. Standing back up and locking our arms together he led me over towards one of the picnic tables there on the outskirts of the courts and set down the bento boxes. I noticed how much taller he was since I had last seen him and it made me blush with awareness of his person.

Turning to me after setting down my bento boxes he said a bit more calmly, "I'm here."

Still in a bit of shock at his appearance and the strange uniform he was wearing, I looked him up and down trying to take it all in. I was trying to place the school colors as I exclaimed, "I can see that!"

His hand unwound from being locked with my arm and traveled up my arm until it rested on my shoulder. Moving his head closer to mine he said to me as if it was the greatest secret ever revealed to mankind, "I moved to Tokyo."

My heart began to pound uncontrollably as my mind quickly put two and two together. Kintaro-kun had promised me that he would do something about the distance so we could date.

_OH MY...was this really happening?_

Part of me was touched beyond all measure that any boy would go so far for the opportunity to date me. Another part of me was in complete panic mode at the frightful thought of how much something like that would impact my life. What would I do with a boyfriend? Would Grandma be okay with me dating at fifteen? Would Uncle and Auntie be angry that I was dating someone other than Ryoma-kun? What would Ryoma-kun do? Was I really ready to leave our messed up relationship behind? Was Kintaro-kun going to be the one?  _Did I really even like him?_

I started to feel somewhat dizzy with the frantic thoughts that were buzzing through my mind. I was pretty sure my heart was going to pound right out of my chest since I could feel my heartbeat all the way through to the veins in my head. My ears heard every frantic thump as if my heart had moved up from my chest to the inside of my brain.

Kintaro-kun was giving me a soft smile as he'd asked, "Did you wait for me like I asked?"

I felt as if I couldn't breathe as my mind had bounced back and forth between going out with him or not and that I had to make a decision in that very moment. The pressure was immense and I had a feeling I was going to faint, but Kintaro-kun was giving me this sweet smile. There was also that part of me that had always  _kind-of_  liked him that was elated with the situation and as I allowed myself to begin to think about it for just a moment, Kintaro-kun's light grasp on me was suddenly ripped away.

I spun in the direction he disappeared to only to see Ryoma-kun and Kintaro-kun facing off with each other directly next to me.

"Koshimae! What was that for?" Kintaro-kun had asked, his tone clearly conveying that he was both confused and slightly upset.

"I told you not to touch Sakuno," Ryoma-kun responded calmly. His body language betrayed his calm tone though as he glared daggers at Kintaro-kun, looking ready to fight.

My heart leapt again. I didn't know if it was joy or fear either. Was Ryoma-kun trying to tell Kintaro-kun I wasn't available because  _I was with him?_  Or was he just doing his usual routine of trying to protect me from what he perceived to be unwanted attention from boys? That couldn't be it though, could it? I mean, Ryoma-kun was never so direct like this. I'd never seen him look so angry before. I'd never seen him look like he was going to fight somebody before! Were they really going to fight?  _Because they really looked like they were going to fight!_  What was I supposed to do?

Kintaro-kun's face instantly went from confused to angry as he declared, "But Sakuno-chan is going to be my girlfriend!"

Ryoma-kun glanced at me for a fraction of a second, his eyes telling me nothing. I was only able to stare back at him with wide eyes...I had no idea what I wanted to happen. Then Ryoma-kun said darkly,  _"Not a chance."_

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.  _Oh...my heart..._

Kintaro-kun pointed at Ryoma-kun for a moment and said somewhat gleefully,  _"Not your decision!"_

_"The hell it isn't!"_ Ryoma-kun quickly shot back. My heart pounded even faster at his words and I blushed.  _What was he doing?_

Kintaro-kun took a step back at that before he glanced over at me and asked, "Sakuno-chan? Is Koshimae really your boyfriend?"

Now put on the spot, I stared at both boys with wide eyes, "I..."

"TOYAMA GET OVER HERE IMMEDIATELY!"

All three of us turned towards the voice, only to see an older tennis player about 30 feet away wearing the same uniform as Kintaro-kun waving angrily in our direction. It was pretty easy to determine he was Kintaro-kun's new team captain.

Kintaro-kun turned back to me and said, "I have to go. I'll come for you later."

I blushed again, but it was lost on Kintaro-kun because his back was to me since he'd already ran off to meet up with his teammate. As he ran off, Ryoma-kun instantly closed the distance between us. He pushed me into the edge of the table as he surrounded my smaller body with his bigger one.

He looked down at me and asked, "What was that?"

I was surprised that he was directing anger towards me. Not only was it rare for Ryoma-kun to get angry, it was even more rare for him to show it. He'd never been really angry with me before though, and the ridiculousness of it seeing as how he bullies me all the time gave me courage that I didn't know I had, "Kintaro-kun moved to Tokyo so he could go out on dates with me."

Ryoma-kun's look darkened as he said, "So what?"

"So isn't that great?" I asked with more bravery than I felt, and in a lighter tone than the seriousness of our conversation deserved.

Ryoma-kun's dark look morphed into a full on glare as he asked, "Why would that be great?"

I shrugged and said lightly, "Well, that's...um...kind-of a big deal, isn't it, Ryoma-kun? I mean, Kintaro-kun must really like me to do that, I think? I've always wanted to get to know him better and Tomo-chan keeps telling me I should go out with him-"

"So what? You're breaking up with me?" Ryoma-kun spat out venomously, interrupting my babbling explanation.

_Waitaminute._

Stop.

_WHAT?_

Shocked beyond all reason I stopped talking about Kintaro-kun, because suddenly,  _Kintaro-kun was the very last thing on my mind._  I blinked up at Ryoma-kun's angry look in bafflement and stuttered out a severely flustered, "W-w-w-wh-wh-wha-what?"

His words continued to bounce around in my mind on a supersonically fast repeat.  _BREAKING UP?_ Did he really just say, _breaking up?_

Breaking.

Up.

Breaking up?!

_Breaking up?!_

He ground his jaw at my surprised stammer and said tightly, "I'm  _not_  going to say it again."

"Ryoma-kun!" I exclaimed. Suddenly finding my voice, I found my stupid mouth running off on it's own asking him incredulously, "How could we break up if we aren't dating?!"

Ryoma-kun gave me the strangest look then, I swear he looked at me as if I'd just turned into a pumpkin or something equally unreal, "What are you  _talking_  about? We've been together ever since I gave you my tennis racquet at the end of first year, which you haven't even used yet, by the way!"

If I had the ability to step back from him, I would have, but he had me pinned up against the table. My thoughts spun around in a blur of out of control confusion like Alice's Tea Party ride at Tokyo Disneyland. There's  _no way_...there's  _just no way_  Ryoma-kun thought that! I rested my hands on the sides of my body and leaned away from him as much as I could, as I'd hotly defended the least important part of his statement, "That's not true, I used it!"

"I've never seen you use it! Only that stupid pink one!"

Oh...were we really going to fight about _the stupid tennis racquet?_

"That's-that's because-because-"

"Because  _why?"_

He's so angry! I can't believe he's so...

"Because you ignored me when you came back to school!" I exclaimed before I pushed my right fist against his chest trying to get him to step away from me.

"I did not!" He replied as he stepped back from me, grabbing his chest where I'd pushed him with his left hand.

"Yes you did!" I said as I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes. I couldn't believe we were fighting...like really,  _openly_  fighting. I couldn't believe we were fighting about this! I couldn't believe we were talking about this! I couldn't believe it was going so horribly!

"No I didn't!" He denied again.

"Yes you did! You always do! Don't deny it,  _you bully!"_  At this point I was crying hot angry tears. They streaked down my face unashamedly as I pointed a finger accusingly at him and added, "Even the first time you kissed me,  _you pulled my hair!"_

Ryoma-kun's eyes widened at my words as he took another step back, and I was finally able to notice that we now had a large audience. Most of our schoolmates from the tennis team and quite a few bystanders were now surrounding our area.

Oh no...everybody had just heard me yell at him that we'd kissed. Everybody was hearing our fight. Our first real fight and oh...

"You  _seriously_  think I bully you?" Ryoma-kun asked quietly. He was calmer all the sudden, and it unnerved me even more than his heated anger a few seconds ago.

"Yes!" I exclaimed as I stomped my foot for emphasis,  _"What else would you call the last four years?"_ Forget this. You know what? I was too mad to care that everybody who knew us was listening to our heated exchange.

Ryoma-kun's eyes changed then and I saw him shutting down the way he always does when he's going to stonewall me, "So this is what you really think, Sakuno?"

_"Yes! It's what I think!"_

He shook his head, "Mada mada dane, _Ryuzaki."_

My heart was stabbed with pain as a I heard a few gasps from the crowd surrounding us.  _Ryoma-kun hadn't called me Ryuzaki in at least a year._

As Ryoma-kun spun around and headed off to the tennis court, the whole world froze except for him for a minute. I watched his back as he walked away from me and then I placed my face in my hands sobbing uncontrollably like I had last year at the Nationals, and within seconds, I could feel the comforting arms of Tomo-chan around me.

"That was some epic fight, Sakuno," My best friend forever said sadly.

I merely cried harder.

_What just happened?_


	21. Chapter 21

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-One

* * *

Is it possible to die of a broken heart?

I was pretty sure that if it hadn't happened before, that I was about to prove that it was possible. I felt so overwhelmed. All these emotions, all these things we left unsaid for all these years. It was as if the floodgates had been opened up upon my head and I was drowning in a sea of confusion, pain, sorrow, lust, and shattered hopes and dreams.

Nothing would ever be the same after this. There was no pretending nothing had happened after this. Not only had Ryoma-kun and I finally had it out with each other with such shocking revelations that I still couldn't fully wrap my mind around, but everybody else now knew our secret. Maybe they didn't know everything, or all the details, but _the whole world_ now knew without a doubt that Ryoma-kun and I were _anything but just friends._

I continued to cry my heart out in public there leaning against the picnic tables on the park grounds with Tomo-chan rubbing my back. Somewhere in my mind I was aware of those around me. Eiji-senpai was trying to lighten up the situation with jokes, only to be scolded by Oishi-senpai. Kaidoh-senpai and Momo-senpai as usual, were in a heated argument. Despite their discussions, my loud sobs, and Tomo-chan's soothing words, all I really heard was our fight over and over again on repeat starting out with Ryoma-kun asking me if I was breaking up with him.

Had my world just been tipped over on its head? Ryoma-kun thought we were a couple? Like really _a couple?_ As in, I had to break up with him to date someone? As in, we were boyfriend and girlfriend? Ever since the end of our first year of middle school? So all this time, during all these years of him being so...he'd thought he was my boyfriend? He'd really thought that all this time?

_How could that even be possible?_

He never acted like he felt that way! He was always bullying me, or embarrassing me, or playing games with me. _OR IGNORING ME!_ How could I have ever guessed that he felt that way?

Was he just saying that now because it seemed like I was going to get away from him and be with Kintaro-kun and he didn't want to lose his favorite toy? That was probably it, wasn't it? I mean, here I would take this seriously and then we'd just go back to the way things have always been, but with a little more awareness of it from the people that knew us? Was that how this was going to be?

How could I stand for that? After I'd finally told him how I really felt? Was he really going to just walk away the way he did and leave things like this?

It was just proof that I'd been right all along and that he didn't really care about me, wasn't it?

Not long after Ryoma-kun had walked away from me, the majority of the crowd had dispersed. Eventually, most of our friends followed Ryoma-kun back to the courts, a few others like Tomo-chan stayed with me. It felt so...divisive.

_I hated it._

Honestly, I just wanted everybody to go away. I wanted either the whole world to melt away or for myself to melt away. Anything to get away from this...from feeling this way...from dealing with this...this...

I didn't even know what to call it.

I had no idea where I stood with Ryoma-kun anymore, and it was a feeling I'd never enjoyed.

I heard the sounds of the tournament beginning and decided I ought to disappear for a little while. I wanted the boys to all focus on the tournament instead of the romantic drama playing out in front of them in the form of their star player and their former coach's granddaughter. Pushing away from the table, I scrambled towards the restroom where I ran the taps and splashed cold water on my face until I was finally forced to collect myself from the shock of the freezing water hitting me.

I looked up into the mirror to see how horrible I looked and locked eyes with Tomo-chan who was standing a couple of feet behind me, watching me in the mirror.

"Tomo-chan..."

My best friend forever shook her head as I bit my lip to stop myself from beginning a fresh bout of tears.

"Sakuno... _why_ didn't you tell me?"

I watched in the mirror as my face crumpled with pain. Tomo-chan. _I'd hurt Tomo-chan._ The weight in my chest intensified as I began to berate myself for being a terrible friend. I shook my head miserably and whispered brokenly, "It's complicated."

Tomo-chan raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms comically, "Tell me about it!"

I let out a laugh of relief as I realized my best friend wasn't mad at me, just confused and upset.

_Like me..._

"Did he really pull your hair the first time he kissed you?" Tomo-chan asked conspiratorially.

I burst into laughter as I nodded my head and wiped the fresh tears that sprung from under my scrunched eyelids. _Leave it to Tomo-chan to ask that question first!_

Tomo-chan tsked as she said, "Unbelievable. You really put up with that?"

I nodded again as I laughed brokenly, "Don't ask me why, even I don't know. Oh...I guess I was pinned against the couch-"

"He had you pinned against the couch?" Tomo-chan looked very interested and then said, "Wow, that's kind of yummy isn't it? Okay, I don't blame you for that Sakuno, but _really!_ Has this really been going on for so long? How did none of us realize...?"

It seemed as if she was talking more to herself than me, but I shrugged anyway and grabbed a couple of paper towels. Running them under the water, I wiped my face down with them, trying to cool the redness on my face away from my crying.

"So what happened today? Why were you guys fighting?"

I shook my head and rubbed the wet paper towels over my face vigorously before I said blandly, "Kintaro-kun moved to Tokyo."

Tomo-chan squealed excitedly for a moment and then caught herself and said, "Wait! That's a bad thing, isn't it? So what? Ryoma-sama is mad because Kin-kun asked you out?"

My hands dropped from my face to lay lamely against the sink as I felt all the energy leave my body, "Ryoma-kun asked me if I was breaking up with him, but... _I didn't even know we were dating."_

Tomo-chan's eyes widened at that. She grabbed my arm and spun me around to face her before she asked, "Sakuno? How could you not know you were dating Ryoma-sama?"

"He never said anything."

She shook me for a second, "But he was kissing you?"

I nodded and shrugged dejectedly, "Often enough."

She dropped my arm and tsked again before she scolded, "Sakunooo! If Ryoma-sama was kissing you, _you should have known_ you were together!"

I looked up at Tomo-chan and met her disapproving look with wide eyes, "Are you serious? We never went out on dates or anything! Ryoma-kun never acted like my boyfriend, even when he was kissing me!"

Tomo-chan's eyebrows raised skeptically, "How can he not act like your boyfriend when he's kissing you?"

I threw my arms out in frustration, "It's complicated, Tomo-chan!"

Tomo-chan put both of her hands in front of her and waved them down placatingly, "Okay, okay, I believe you, I believe you. So Ryoma-sama is a big stupid jerk, but _he still thinks he's your boyfriend._ What are you going to do?"

I shook my head, "There's no way he thinks he's still my boyfriend, _if_ he ever really thought that way."

"Why not? Just because you guys had a fight?"

I nodded.

"Sakuno...couples get in fights all the time. He didn't say it was over. Neither did you. I think that means you guys are still together."

I crossed my arms over my chest angrily, "He never even asked me to be his girlfriend, but now I have to break up with him? How does that work?"

Tomo-chan's eyes widened as she took a step back and asked cautiously, "Do you... _want_ to break up with him?"

I dropped my arms to my sides again and shook my head, "I don't know what I want. I thought I wanted to get him to leave me alone. I was sick of him playing with my emotions after all these years that I've been putting up with it. I was considering maybe going out with Kintaro-kun because he could get me away from Ryoma-kun. Isn't that terrible?"

Tomo-chan made a face that said she was sorry to say she agreed with me as she nodded her head slowly.

"But maybe I didn't understand. Maybe Ryoma-kun wasn't just playing with me, but even if he wasn't, I'm not sure what that really means. Ryoma-kun is a professional tennis player, there's an expiration date on any relationship we have, right? Not to mention I wasn't even sure if I wanted to have any boyfriend at all, but..."

Tomo-chan placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder as I trailed off and said, "Sakuno...whether you like it or not, your feelings seem to be wrapped up with Ryoma-sama. I think you need to at least talk to him, and I don't think you should go out with Kin-kun or anybody else right now. Maybe you should take some time to figure out how you feel and what you want."

I looked at Tomo-chan with worry in my eyes, "Tomo-chan...I don't know how I feel unless I know how Ryo..."

Tomo-chan nodded understandingly, "That's okay."

"He...he's not going to tell me anything," I shared.

"Why not?"

"He never does, but he gave me that look he makes...right before he walked away...it's the look that means he's not going to say another word about the subject."

Tomo-chan tsked again and vented, "That Ryoma-sama! I do know what you mean, but I didn't think he did that to you, just everybody else."

I shook my head, "I get it _the most."_

Tomo-chan raised her eyebrows at that, but didn't comment. We stood there for a few minutes in silence as we both rummaged through our thoughts.

Finally Tomo-chan said, "Let's get out of here."

I looked back in the mirror and saw that my face was looking more normal. With a nod, I made my way towards the exit.

As we stepped back out into the sunshine, Fuji-senpai appeared in front of us.

"Sakuno-chan...I think you need to see something."

Fuji-senpai rarely talks to me, and it was even more rare that he ever looks this serious or determined. Whatever it was that he wanted to show me, it must have been really important.

Tomo-chan gave me a questioning look and I gave her a nod. She gestured to the table where my stack of large bentos were still waiting letting me know she'd wait for me there.

I looked at Fuji-senpai and with more bravery than I even knew I was capable of I said, "Show me."

Fuji-senpai and I walked away from the tables and bathrooms and towards the park's entrance. As we approached the gates he veered off to the right and stopped under the shade of a tree that was a few feet off the walkway. Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket he tapped it a few times and then handed it to me.

I looked at the screen and noticed a video was queued up to play. All I needed to do was hit the play button to start it. I squinted at the frozen frame, thinking it looked somewhat familiar and then hit play.

As the video began to play, I realized instantly what it was. It was Ryoma-kun! It was his first press conference interview he'd done back at the US Open last year.

The video quality wasn't very good. It looked like Fuji-senpai had held his phone up to a television to record it since the frame was a bit off and I could see the edges of the a television screen on the sides. The audio echoed a bit as it would in a recording of a recording.

I watched the video play out anyways. I'd only seen this interview from the side at the time, and it was kind-of cool to see what had been shown on the television. Cameras flashed at Ryoma-kun and he answered some questions. It was all in English with no subtitles, but unlike the time when the press conference had taken place and I'd been there in person, I understood most of what was being said now since my English had improved so much.

I didn't know why I needed to watch it though, and I looked up for a second questioningly at Fuji-senpai who pointed back towards his phone, as if to tell me to make sure I didn't miss a second of it.

It wasn't a very long interview anyway, and I noticed there were only about 20 seconds left of the interview when the last question caught my attention.

"Mr. Echizen, are all of your family and friends here with you to support you for your professional debut?"

I watched as Ryoma-kun paused for a second and looked to the side, and I remembered how he'd looked at me right before his press conference had ended in New York.

Understanding the question this time, I realized why he'd looked over at me. _I'd been the only person there with him._

Ryoma-kun gave the camera a big smirk then and said, "My number one supporter and fiancée Sakuno is here with me, so I guess you could say my family and my friends are here, but it's really only her."

My first thought had been how typical of Ryoma-kun to be so cheeky, assuming, and matter of fact. Then what he said replayed in my head and the second time I oh...

My knees gave out and I dropped to the ground with shock. I understood Ryoma-kun's words he'd said last year in front of the world this time. I was more happy than ever that I'd been working on my English and had understood him, but my mind reeled with the implications of it.

He...he...he'd said I was his fiancée! Not his girlfriend, not his friend, not his forced labor assistant, but his _fianc_ _ée!_ He'd said I was his _family and his friend!_ He'd said I was his number one supporter, which was true even back then when I thought he only viewed me as his toy; it was something I hadn't ever wavered on in my devotion to him and...he'd noticed and commented on it.

Wait.

_Had literally everybody in the world known except for me?_

Fuji-senpai knelt down next to me and gently took his phone from my hands as I asked, "Fuji-senpai, how did you get that?"

Fuji-senpai gave me his usual mysterious smile, but answered anyways, "My family and I were in America during the US Open last year, so we watched it live on the TV there."

"So...wait a minute... _you knew?"_ I asked.

He nodded.

"All this time you knew and you never said anything?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment before he said mischievously, "Nobody asked me."

"I can't believe he said that. I can't believe everybody doesn't know he said that," I was babbling and I knew it, but my thoughts were on overdrive and I had to say _something_ before I exploded.

"It's not on the US Open site and I don't think they showed Echizen's match on WOWOW."

"They didn't, not that one," I said.

Fuji-senpai nodded, "He was still a nobody at the US Open last year, it's not surprising. I don't think anybody else has seen it. Even if someone else has, they'd have to be good at English to understand what he said."

I looked at Fuji-senpai warily for a moment, "Do you...?"

He smiled and nodded.

Of course he understood it...why did I even bother asking? He wouldn't have shown the video to me if he didn't know what Ryoma-kun had said.

_Baka._

Fuji-senpai covered his mouth to suppress a laugh as I slouched there on the lawn under the tree for a few minutes my mind on repeat...

_"My number one supporter"_

_"fianc_ _ée_ _Sakuno"_

_"my family and my friends"_

_"only her"_

_"her"_

_"Sakuno"_

Snapping out of my stupor I grabbed Fuji-senpai's forearm and shook it up and down excitedly for a moment. I gave him beaming eyes as I exclaimed, "Fuji-senpai! Do you know what this means?"

Fuji-senpai chuckled at my sudden enthusiasm and said, "I believe I do."

I stood up and Fuji-senpai stood as well as I said, "This means...this means...it means that - _he loves me!"_

I looked at Fuji-senpai and shared my epiphany with him, "He _really_ loves me. _He's loved me all along!"_ I rushed off back towards the tennis courts and then paused as I reached the walkway and looked back at Fuji-senpai and added, "When he said we would get married and I have to wash his back everyday, he wasn't making fun of me like I thought, he really meant it!" I was so happy I just didn't care who I was talking to or what I was saying. I just wanted to tell the whole world how happy I was.

Fuji-senpai shook his head and chuckled again. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and began to walk towards me, "I'm surprised this is news to you Sakuno-chan. I really thought the two of you were just keeping it a big secret."

I shook my head quickly with a grin that I couldn't seem to shake off, and then I said, "I have to go!"

Spinning around, I sprinted back towards the table where Tomo-chan was waiting for me.


	22. Chapter 22

**It's Complicated**

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance/Drama

Summary: RyoSaku. Ryoma is a bully. Sakuno is convinced of this fact, or so she thought. Nah, he's a bully all right.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Two

* * *

After leaving Fuji-senpai, I ran up to Tomo-chan who gave me a surprised look. "Is everything okay?"

I smiled at her and said, "I think...everything is going to be okay."

"You do?"

"I was wrong Tomo-chan."

"You were?"

"Ryoma-kun...he...he loves me."

Tomo-chan frowned and said, "Sakuno...seriously? I could have told you that! He had a fight with you in front of all the tennis teams in the Kantou district. If that's not love from Ryoma-sama, then I don't know what is, but is that all you want?"

She made so much sense I felt like I had just been slapped in the face for my stupidity. _Wow, I was so blind when it came to Ryoma-kun._ Was it all I wanted though? I stopped in realization at her question as I felt my heart sink, "What do you mean?"

"Sakuno-chan...weren't you saying you were worried about being with Ryoma-sama because of him being a professional tennis player?"

I sat down at the table at her words as my previous elation seeped out of me a little more with each question Tomo-chan asked.

Then I remembered Ryoma-kun saying I was his fiancée and with renewed determination I said, "It's okay...I think we might actually be engaged already."

Tomo-chan dropped onto the bench next to me exclaiming, _"Engaged?"_

"Well, he mentioned it before, but I thought he was just bullying me as usual, and I said no. Ryoma-kun didn't believe me though because Fuji-senpai showed me a video from Ryoma-kun's press conference at the US Open last year when he said I was his fiancée."

Tomo-chan's jaw dropped, _"Ryoma-sama really said that?"_

I nodded and blushed.

_"In a press conference?"_

I nodded again as my happy smile started returning to me.

She looked impressed as she gave me a huge smile and commented, "Dang, Sakuno."

The two of us sat there for a minute and as I thought more about it, my excitement started to grow again. I didn't know what to say to Ryoma-kun, but I really wanted to see him!

_He LOVED me._

I couldn't help it, my heart was singing.

"Do you want to marry him?" Tomo-chan asked breaking the silence.

I smiled and shrugged, "I don't know. I've never thought it was possible, I didn't even know Ryoma-kun really liked me before today."

"Wait. Is that why you travel with him?" Tomo-chan asked.

Well, just smack me upside the head and call this day the day of epiphanies. Ryoma-kun had just said to me last week when we were at Wimbledon that it was better for me to go with him to his tournaments! Did he mean because we would get married when we were older and so it was better for me to get used to it now?

That... _bully..._

_...keeping all these secrets from me!_

I could punch him!

_Why couldn't he have just said this all to me straight from the beginning?_

I stood up and grabbed the stack of bentos, "Let's go watch the matches."

Tomo-chan stood up, "Okay."

We made our way over to the courts and saw that the second doubles match was in mid-play. Oishi-senpai and Eiji-senpai were out on the court doing their Golden Pair thing and I was hit with a wonderful feeling of nostalgia. The tennis season for school was almost over, and I'd been watching them play since high school had started in the spring, but for some reason it was in that moment that it really hit me. It was really good to be back with the old team from our first year of middle school.

_Between all the boys being together from that first year and finding out I'd misunderstood Ryoma-kun all these years, I almost felt like my life had a reset._

Tomo-chan and I made our way over to where the rest of the Seigaku team were sitting to watch the match. We took some seats behind Momo-senpai and Kaidoh-senpai who were busy fighting as usual.

As we sat down, Ryoma-kun turned from his seat that was slightly to the side in front of us and gave me a blank stare.

I blinked.

A second later, Ryoma-kun was settling in next to me. Wow...he moved fast.

_He'd come to sit next to me!_

This had to be a good sign. My heart started pounding double time and I felt as nervous as I had that morning I'd gone with him to the stringer's shop when we were first year middle school students. I couldn't believe I was nervous around Ryoma-kun, but there you have it, I was nervous as anything.

It felt as if the eyes of every single person there at the park were on Ryoma-kun and I, but I knew that wasn't possible since there was such a good match going on and at the end of the day, everybody was there for tennis, not me and Ryoma-kun's love life. Even knowing that, I still felt like we were in a spotlight and everybody was watching each move we made. It made me want to squirm. I hoped Ryoma-kun wouldn't notice and misunderstand. We'd fought enough that morning to last a lifetime and I hoped that it would be true. If we got married...

I still could barely believe he'd referred to me as his fiancée.

Ryoma-kun wants to marry me.

It whirled around on my mind on repeat. As we sat there watching the match in silence all I could think was...

Ryoma-kun wants to marry me.

As I broke out the bentos and everybody started eating all I could think was...

Ryoma-kun wants to marry me.

Ryoma-kun wants to marry me.

Ryoma-kun wants to marry me.

As I pulled out the smaller bento I'd made especially for Ryoma-kun and handed it over to him and his fingers had lightly brushed against mine as he'd taken it from my hand all I could think was...

Ryoma-kun wants to marry me.

And as he'd looked at me with questions in his eyes I gave him a tentative smile while my mind reminded me yet again...

Ryoma-kun wants to marry me.

I watched him eat his lunch and take in the conversations going on around us while my mind simply repeated...

Ryoma-kun wants to marry me.

Tezuka-senpai walked over to us to tell Ryoma-kun he was playing the Singles 2 match and all I could think was...

Ryoma-kun wants to marry me.

As I watched Ryoma-kun leave to go warm up, even though he hadn't said a word to me my mind continued to remind me...

Ryoma-kun wants to marry me.

I watched Ryoma-kun win his match, and finish Seigaku's round against the first school we needed to beat to make it to the Nationals tournament and as awesome as everything was that was going on around us, all I could think was...

Ryoma-kun wants to marry me.

As I gathered up all the empty bento boxes and my other belongs to prepare to leave that day with each breath I took I thought...

Ryoma-kun wants to marry me.

And so by the time I had all my belongings collected and had started to leave the park for the day and ran into Ryoma-kun waiting for me at the park's entrance, I was practically giddy with the thought that...

Ryoma-kun wants to marry me.

We walked in silence until we were back in our local neighborhood and then I realized we were headed towards Ryoma-kun's house. Were his parents not home tonight?

We arrived at his property, but instead of going into the house, he led the way up to the tennis court where the temple was located. We walked around to the backside of the temple and finally Ryoma-kun set down his tennis bag. He took his hat off and tossed it on top of his bag before he dropped down to sit on the ground on the backside of the rock wall that made up the base of the temple. I set down the bento boxes and my purse and then sat down next to him. He grabbed my hand, holding it in his lap between both of his.

My mind was still on a repeat of...

_Ryoma-kun wants to marry me._

I wanted to hug him and kiss him. I wanted to make up. I wanted to be deliriously happy in love with him. I wanted to support his tennis forever and I wanted to see the world with him.

That was the moment that I knew. I just knew...I knew exactly what I wanted and it was the same thing that Ryoma-kun...no...it was the same thing that _Ryoma_ wanted.

As he frowned and opened his mouth to finally say whatever he wanted to say about what we said that morning, I closed the distance between us and kissed him.

Ryoma kissed me back immediately, (no hair pulling on my account required) and I felt my heart soar with happiness. After all, it was the first time I ever really initiated kissing him. It was different now because now I knew...

Ryoma wants to marry me.

_And I want to marry him._

I climbed into his lap as he pulled me closer, saying my name between kisses. I felt his big hands wrap around my waist and then drop down to pull the hem of my top up. His hands moved under my shirt and rubbed the warm flesh of my waist at my back and I pushed myself closer to him.

Ryoma began kissing along my collarbone as he muttered in English about how he wished we were older already and had our own place.

It was crazy how much we were in love. I hadn't felt this way since the first time he'd kissed me and even that paled in comparison, because before I hadn't known...

Ryoma _really_ likes me, and he wants to marry me.

"We could get our own place now, but I don't think Grandma or Uncle or Auntie would let us," I whispered to him in English.

Ryoma scoffed and said, "My parents would want us to live with them and the old man would annoy us to death."

"There's not really enough room at Grandma's house."

"I make enough in prize money from tennis already for us, but we're only fifteen." He kissed the crook of my neck as his hands raised up under my shirt and rubbed my back, pulling me closer into him again as he added, "I can't do much here with it until I'm twenty, but I know we could buy a place in America. I'd like to stay at Seigaku though."

I stopped kissing him and dropped my face into his neck. With a frustrated groan I finally switched back to Japanese and said, "You're right. I wish we had our own place, but I don't know about moving to America."

He nodded as he added in Japanese, "At least we have sleepovers and tournaments."

I giggled.

His hands dropped back down and rested on my hips as he asked, "Sakuno. What happened today?"

_If that wasn't a loaded question._ It was more like what _hadn't_ happened today?

"What do you mean?" I asked softly.

"Toyama. He was _touching_ you."

Oh...wow...I'd forgotten all about Kintaro-kun.

"Only what I told you earlier," I answered.

Ryoma growled and angrily said, _"What?"_

Remembering how our conversation had quickly erupted earlier and feeling Ryoma getting upset all over again I giggled and poked him in the chest, "Could you get more jealous?"

"Don't test me."

I laughed and said, "I don't _like_ Kintaro-kun."

"Good." He said under his breath in English before he huffed and then said in Japanese, "You better not!"

"You know I can understand you now," I said in English.

Ryoma cussed and said in Japanese, "I didn't even notice you were changing languages on me."

"I've been working hard on my English and it was worth it."

"Hn."

"I saw your press conference from the US Open today," I shared.

Ryoma looked nonplussed for about half a second and then his eyes widened, "You mean..."

I smirked. I don't think I've ever seen him lost for words before and it was a great feeling to finally turn the tables on him.

"Yup."

I waited as he processed for a moment with a blank expression. Then he gave me a slow, sexy, grin and said, "So that's why you kissed me. _You liked that."_

Well, of course I liked it. Who wouldn't be head over heels happy when the love of their life declared before the world that they were going to marry you? Still...he never asked me and that was...

I gave him a wry look, "By the way Ryoma...when did we get engaged? I don't remember that happening."

He grinned again and said, "You're finally dropping the honorific."

Dodging the subject, as usual.

I poked him in the chest again and said, "You can't get out of this one so easily. I didn't even think I was your girlfriend."

He scoffed, "How could you have not known you were my girlfriend? I told you and you said okay. Well, anyway...do you think I'm like my old man going around doing things like we do with just anybody?"

"No...I just...thought it was more bullying."

He shook his head, "Until you yelled at me this morning, I always thought you were joking when you called me a bully. I can't believe...no wonder it was..."

I interrupted his slight ramblings and said, "Seriously. I want to know when you think we got engaged."

His eyes shifted to the side for a moment and I watched in fascination as a slight flush graced his cheeks before he confessed, "That night...in the bathroom...here."

Oh...oh wait...did he mean that night back when...? My eyes widened with realization. He _had_ talked about us getting married that night. I'd told him no, but then he'd kissed me and then he'd demanded I kiss him and so I did...and I had known something important had happened, but I didn't know what...

Wait a second. So Ryoma thinks we've been engaged ever since our second year of middle school when we were only thirteen? That had only been the second time we'd been kissing! Had he really been so committed...even back then? And all this time I thought he was just bullying me?

_It's a wonder we haven't fought more._

"Ne, Ryoma, I said I wouldn't marry you that night," I reminded him.

Ryoma gave me a knowing look before he said, "That was before you kissed me."

"You made me kiss you," I argued.

He shook his head, "No I didn't. I told you to, and you did because you wanted to."

"I..." I wanted to protest, but I stopped myself. I supposed he had a point there. At the end of the day, Ryoma wouldn't have ever gotten away with any of what's happened the last three years if I didn't like him. No matter how big of a bully he was. He'd known it all along and I guess...I'd just been in denial...

"I think Ryoma was just deciding what he wants and doing what he wants as usual," I said anyway.

His eyes shuttered into blankness for a moment at my accusation, "Fine. What do you want?"

Embarrassed, I hid my head under his chin and confessed quietly, "I want the same thing Ryoma wants."

His chest bounced with amusement, "Hn...I know."

_Oh, he is so cocky. Why does he always have to be right?_

I didn't know if I wanted to hit him, or kiss him. Was this really happening? Was it really true that all this time, Ryoma had been the one that understood me? That it was actually Ryoma that knew me so well, and knew me better than I knew myself? Was the truth that...I hadn't known anything?

"Does this mean you're going to stop pretending you don't like me?" Ryoma asked.

I lifted my head up and gave him a put out look, _"I never did that!"_

"You _always_ do that."

"No I don't!"

"You've _always_ said we were _just friends._ It sucks. You go into hiding after we do anything. Why do you think I try to leave you alone for a week after we've been together?"

I pushed into his chest with a bit of force and said, "That's _you_ ignoring _me!"_

He shook his head, "I've never ignored you."

"The first day of school after the first U-17 camp?"

He gave me a dark look, "You didn't talk to me for weeks when school started. You wouldn't even come to tennis practice. Even after I asked Momo-senpai to talk to you. I thought you were mad at me for kissing you."

"I wasn't mad until you ignored me that first morning we were back at school! It broke my heart!"

His jaw dropped, "I _never_ ignored you. I said hi and then you disappeared for weeks except for during class. You wouldn't even _look_ at me until I found you in the back of the school practicing with that stupid _pink_ racquet of yours."

Realizing that I had possibly hurt Ryoma over the years as much as he'd hurt me over a simple misunderstanding made me sick to my stomach. I groaned and dropped my head into his chest, "Ryoma should have just directly asked me to be your girlfriend."

He shook his head in disapproval and squeezed my bottom. As I squealed in protest he stood us both up and said, "Don't you remember when I gave you _my tennis racquet_ before I left? Then I emailed _you_. I met _you_ at the airport when I came back. _Mada mada dane."_

"Still bullying me," I observed.

He raised an eyebrow at me and said, "You still don't understand."

"Understand what?"

The corner of his mouth quirked up, but he didn't answer my question, and for once, it didn't really bother me.

Because... _Ryoma wanted to marry me_ and that was good enough for _everything._

"Are you staying over tonight?"

I looked in the direction of the house and asked, "Are your parents home?"

Ryoma gave me the look he gives me when he thinks I'm asking stupid questions, "Why do you think we're up here?"

Ah...right...of course. If his parents weren't home we would already be inside his house right now. _Making out more too..._

I thought about how his parents always said we would be getting married, and how they seemed to have secret knowledge on why I had to travel with him. Suddenly hit with a sense of dread, I asked nervously, "Do your parents know?"

"Know what?"

I waved my hand between us for a moment, still lost for words on how to describe this...thing...

Ryoma gave me a bored look.

"Have they seen the press conference?" I asked.

"Oh _that."_ He shook his head, "No, but you know what they think already."

Relieved, I giggled and said, "Complete approval!"

Ryoma smirked at my comment and clarified, "They have no idea...about _anything."_

"Just high hopes?" I asked.

He shrugged and looked towards the house below us. The lights on inside were emitting a warm glow into the warm summer night, "Something like that...I don't know. I told them, but they never really believed me. In a way, they just assumed we were together, until you told them we weren't. They're going to be happy when we tell them we are, maybe they'll really believe me this time."

I giggled again and said, "Uncle is going to flip out."

Ryoma muttered something about how old perverts should mind their own business.

"When are we going to tell them?" I asked.

Ryoma's smirk dropped and he said, "It should be before we tell our friends."

"Oh...and they already know... _something."_

"What did Osakada say?"

I frowned, remembering the conversations Tomo-chan and I had that morning about Ryoma, "She said a lot of things."

"I'll bet she did."

We both laughed for a moment and then I said, "I guess we better tell them."

Ryoma grabbed my hand and said, "You better stay tonight then, because Coach might kill me tomorrow."

I laughed at his quip and said, "Nah. I don't think Grandma cares. She's stayed out of it so far."

"That's because she knows better than to take my old man's fantasies seriously. After she has proof..."

As he trailed off I inserted in my head the things we'd been doing and realized Ryoma might have a point. If Grandma knew we'd been doing things couples do when we were alone together, because _we'd been engaged since we were thirteen,_ she probably wouldn't be happy about it. Maybe it was better if we just kept things a secret after all. Now worried, I looked away from the house and back at Ryoma, "Maybe we shouldn't tell them."

He shook his head, "I don't think we have a choice."

"What if everything changes?" I asked.

"Everything already changed."

He was right...as usual. I suddenly wasn't happy that he was right, and of all things, I actually wished we could just continue on as we had been up until now, but after our fight today...it was impossible. The whole Kantou region knew we'd been kissing. It was a cruel irony that the very thing I wanted had really been the exact opposite of what I _really_ wanted.

"Sorry," I said lamely.

He squeezed my hand, "It's better this way."

"Is it? What if I can't go with you anymore, or what if we can't have sleepovers anymore?"

He turned his head to look at me again and leaned forward giving me a quick kiss, "We'll figure something out."

I took a step forward, finally feeling ready to go inside, but Ryoma's hand stopped me.

I turned back to look at him, wondering why he stopped me, only to be pulled into his arms. He wrapped me up inside of his larger frame as his lips dropped down to connect with mine again. After a minute I noticed he moved his left hand underneath my shirt and grazed his fingers lightly against the soft flesh of my abdomen. Breaking our kiss he murmured against my lips, "I want..."

"What do you want?" I asked huskily. Wow! Was that really my voice? I didn't even know I could sound that sexy!

"Soon. I want it all as soon as possible. A home of our own, going to all the tournaments, not just the grand slam championships... I have the money, we have to figure it out," It actually sounded to me like he'd been thinking a lot about this and that his lack of solution was bothering him.

"You've thought about it a lot?" I asked.

He gave a slight nod and rubbed the small of my back with his hand.

_Wow. He really, really loves me._ I felt giddy all over again.

"It sounds...perfect."

He gave another slight nod.

"Okay Ryoma. As soon as possible. That's what we'll tell them."

He dropped his head into my neck then and gave a sigh, "Are you sure?"

I didn't even hesitate, "Yes, I'm sure."

He lifted his head up with a big grin and said, "Okay."

Then he was pulling me down the steps towards his house and I was rushing to keep up with his quick pace. Reaching the back door, we entered the house and took our shoes off.

"Ryoma? Is that you?" Auntie Rinko called out from the direction of the kitchen.

Ryoma pulled me forward hurriedly again and as we reached the kitchen, he stopped abruptly. I stopped next to him, slightly flushed and out of breath.

Uncle was sitting at the counter, dangling a string to the floor where Karupin was happily batting away at it and Auntie was at the stove stirring what looked like hotpot.

"Oh! Sakuno-chan's here too! Wonderful!" Auntie exclaimed.

Uncle looked up then and gave me a happy greeting as well.

I smiled a bit awkwardly and shifted my weight so that I was practically leaning into Ryoma.

"Mom." Auntie looked up sharply at Ryoma's tone as he quickly added, "Dad." Uncle's eyes widened considerably and I watched as both of Ryoma's parents stared at the two of us in surprise for a moment. Uncle was giving Ryoma a look I'd never seen before...maybe it was shock...maybe it was disbelief. After all, Ryoma had just called him 'Dad' and to my knowledge he never did that. Auntie's eyes shifted to our clasped hands and then back up to my flushed face. Her free hand closed over her mouth and I watched in amazement as tears sprang into her eyes, while her other hand hovered her stirring spoon in the air.

"We're getting married."

Auntie dropped her spoon and clapped her hands together excitedly, tears streaming down her face as she exclaimed, "Oh happy day!"

Uncle fell off of his stool, hit the floor and cursed.

"As soon as possible," Ryoma added to which more hullabaloo ensued.

_It looks like my life has just gotten a lot more complicated._


End file.
